























































































'O V V 

♦ "• > °. vv 
* A°* ^'7Y»' V s <► 4 

C* /. 


*■' °o .» 

<U* :#^#*. V :, 

y 1 ^ *XjTs!r.* V <$* °.’ 

V ♦TtvT* a • <s '»• * 

o • « , 't'o & . 1 ' • * <** ,0 V c °V *, 

- ' o d* ♦W2^’ V c ° a" 

*.a-V v^‘/ %^>°,,V-"/,..% s,, ‘/^% 

*» £ .vgv. ^ ^ ;^W : Xa* : 4K| 0 « : 

#1; ** v % xWv / % ’IS**, ^ ^ c 

■c A *o * l w -u y. * • • * X* V. ^ ^ i # « a v 

'•-*• ^ ‘°V-**, *. / ,£jfc, \/° jgjfe %/ ;gg; V‘ 

■Bj&tiT M o* - >P w *4' 


* T- - 

t> . %* 4 ' 

<7 . •** O' 




^ o 4^ ~"x* 

"v^.* o.K cv 

*«.o° <y ?&*••' 

V *!••' ^ -i 

-i w^/;“ 

^ ^ : > • ; ^ « A V, V 

,V 'v, •v ^ °. 

s* <a 

o 0 ^ »‘U>, * C° 

C\ • 


vj ^ ^ v \a a- »^4*s:- ^ «, v^a; 

' ^ ^ ^ ^ a v 

^ <&' 'V a^ x '>- ^ 

c. ^o • » • -O y. # • • * X V A A ., . 

* <p c° °0 X ♦VvT^bs’ V C ° jS 

^;*. ^ c A: -o/ :^»-- • f -o< :-Ssa- 


.‘r t * • •'* ^ V^ CV aO » 

V./ /Jfc ^ .*^»” \/ •'! 


* c ffM'3'* .c?^- -« ^*V X“oV/'H 

. X V) A ^ •«?. «' X X *'..«* ,\* '°•' 

'* _ 0 ^ c o - » % 'V ’ ^ t . 1 S G 0^ X? *%+ 

\r . . '»*_ ftV .... A <> . « * o. *o .0 .* ’ '* y* V » 1 , 



4.V 

A^ ” a' 

0 * O * • * O \V 

■ I 1^-’* 0> *••***“ .... 

.o^ > . v >'k*j'. *+ a° * 

'; X^ ,^ v ^ V. 

^'vT^V 1 A 

.A o *Vv7^ A %- 


<A *'o 6 . X ^ A <>'•*•• 'V % '* ,S 4< v 

\ \ .0° ,-ksa^. x. X ^ 

0 - V- o' 

y'WV X 0_ .W^ Q 0 

* o . o ’ X ' ^ 0 • • B ^ < * 

^ «« «o„ c^ .0 »Aw'* ^ S' 

• lfe»'- a *« • 

.. » a «- ^L^iC > • 1 


x 0 ^. 45 °* 'f3M&: ?v 0 'X 

( f o° '•' , *\^°°,../^>* # “°° v ^ 

a.° ^ x Ak’i'. ^ a^° 'vp0n:- «, * 

' :^fe*. ^ .-jjSil^'. ••J||‘: W ;. t 

. V^. *vz^S>SSvr* A 
A *£» c ;. p x \Sy • j'F p 

^ ^ °/ v ^^ Nr « ,<£? & -rs. 

"O.A ,G AD. 

T ?A 






■> S ...«. %. " ,- 0 *°,,.., % • v \* ff , D# % % <}*,'•: \ 

A o^ ^ 

0 - • . Vi. ^ 0 • O . A % .<•'*, ^ 0^ o « O „ jV 

•jSS'^W*’. O j* ,'-V< **L C •jSSSW- ° 4* **r/l?z*r v ^ v*csS^\V» ° v'T ♦ 

•vslte; **«<* +*& r'MflSh ;j 

• « _ ^v^\TkJ ***-J 


->^i; » 0 **. -«KgS ^ : ^M: *9*^ -*«£*• ^ -1 

^v v®-> v**v v* / %*"v v 

^ % w * v . ^jfc . \.,/° \^ V ; ^g -. \/° > 

*'o . . * * .<>* < *b A- *'o . » *“ 0^ ^ **Vv!** A ^ *'•.**' A 0^ 

•'J£r. \ ■ / .^1. % ^ y'/r^i- \ <? °o i**\'Jr*?k' \ c 0- ,. 


;^m s , : vv **> 

., S'^&riit ''' o . V«^. ' >' % vT*. j ^$5aN'r*£y o V V<* 

V ^ ^ -:vvv ^ ^ 0^5$P,* ^ ^ °.Vv; v < 

* 0 . *'/..* A <*. 'o. v * 0 V \s */7VT* A <.'».»* <0 

**o a,^ . *■' •« ^ .o v .•••. f o . • 1 ' • ■* ^ sty 

* .\«S\\W. o d* *Vj«fesV V C 4 vsSSfc*% o d* ♦W*fe s v *% 



„ c^saxu^. W VT < 

>«»'.. v^y. •. s^*y . • •. v^\/... v.... v 

: /M\ V" »: X ^lii^/ 

’ ,0 V A' a°^ A^ 

^ -0^ L ’-* ’ ^ .4? , 


^ A 


.0^ c 0 " 9 » a^ V ••■'•* 

^ ^ ^ 'V'- T bN:C' "o «5 ^ >P ~ r 4> '^ 0 ^$^“ v^*’ x> 

/ <^'/ \-«\/ -o, -«* / v^- / ^ 

.’•o. < * # b. .^0' AA > _»' * ° - _ c^. ^0' > V* c 

^ *' ^ ‘ ' ' 


4 O 





ift ^.*0' 

<?V, * 

- 0 O 





















ii a MOTOfegi 

7 Bung 


v- 


ST MUNGO’S TOMB 


GLASGOW, 

Published by Allan & Ferguson 

LITHOGRAPHERS. 


Robert Stuart &.C?, Booksellers 

159 INGRAM STREET, 

1847. 







































VIEWS AND NOTICES 


OF 


GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 

V 

* 


EETINENS VESTIGIA FAMAI.” 



GLASGOW: * 

ROBERT STUART & CO. 

EDINBURGH: BELL & BRADFUTE, and JOHN MENZIES. 


MDCCCXLVIII. 



Printed by William Rankin, 62 Argyll Street, Glasgow. 


% 


ft ^ 



INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 


N a city like Glasgow, wliicli lias been indebted for 
so much of its prosperity to the enterprise of times 
gone by, there will, doubtless, many a one be found, 
to whom even the humblest traces of its appearance 
in former days will prove far from devoid of inter¬ 
est, and in whose opinion the preservation, in a pic¬ 
torial form, of the once familiar land-marks of the 
place, will appear both a worthy and a welcome deed. 

To such, the accompanying plates require no formal or laboured intro¬ 
duction ; they speak for themselves to every mind which can so far unbend, 
as to find an occasional source of amusement in glancing at the local me¬ 
morials of the past; and justly lay claim to attention, as reminding us 
of a state of things widely different from that which now distinguishes 
the Commercial Metropolis of Scotland, when—as was once said of the capi¬ 
tal of the civilized world—the homes of the increasing multitude glisten 
upon her seven hills. 

It is well known that, to anything like the sometimes coveted boast of 
a chivalrous antiquity, the city of Glasgow can make no pretence. The 
















IV 


INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 


annals of her early years are linked in but a very trifling degree with the 
storied recollections of kings, or with the martial “pomp and circumstance” 
of baronial display; but if, on this account, the relics of her former existence 
give place, in the light of historic association, to those of many a spot of now 
inferior renown, they are nevertheless rich in that peculiar interest which 
springs from the record of their connection with the ascendancy of priestly 
magnificence, with the infant spread of education, and with the first strug¬ 
gles of an enterprising community in that important path which the spirit 
of commerce had incited it to pursue. 

In what might be termed a continuous series of embellishments, cal¬ 
culated to illustrate the successive pages of our local history, it is not to be 
expected that any publication should now be made complete. The present 
collection can, at all events, make no pretence, either to having exhausted 
the subject, or to the possession of any particular regularity of order or 
design; on the contrary, the following drawings have been selected and 
arranged in a great measure at random, and must be regarded as forming a 
number of disjointed sketches, rather than the several links of a consecutive 
chain. 

That the selection is a sufficiently varied one, none, perhaps, will be in¬ 
clined to deny—presenting, as it does, subjects of every shade of interest—from 
the pile lit up by the storied rays of history or tradition, to the nameless struc¬ 
ture whose doubtful claim to notice rests on the simple basis of an antiquated 
appearance.-—On turning over the accompanying plates we are frequently 
reminded of the great interval which, rather in “ circumstance” than in time, 
separates the present generation from that which beheld these old buildings 
in their youth. At one page we have, for instance, the palace of the rich 
and ambitious chuicliman its embattled tower and massy curtain telling, in 
the midst of ruin, of a wealth which had reason to covet the protection of 
guarded walls, and of a temporal power that would now but ill beseem the 


INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 


v 


professed apostle of a meek and lowly faith. At another we meet with the 
abode of the inferior member of the chapter—one of the many mansions of 
respectable appearance, with which the pride or policy of its occupants had 
thought proper to surround the castellated stronghold of the see. At a third, 
we look upon the building to which the finger of tradition has pointed, as 
that which received the first aspirants after knowledge, who assembled as 
the alumni of a College in Glasgow. One picture delineates the Cathedral 
and its neighbourhood in the days of William and Mary, another shows the 
rustic Broomielaw when the Second George was King. Here the eye re¬ 
poses on the pile which had entertained of old the noble family of Montrose, 
and there it meets the emblazoned front of that where Cromwell had rested 
for a season from the “labours” of his quick ascent to power. The old hall 
of the “ Merchant rank,” the original Hospital of the Hutchesons’, the 
once far-famed Tolbooth itself, are all here to demand their share of 
attention; with many other buildings of former consequence, on whose special 
claims to notice it is unnecessary to dwell. There is not, perhaps, one in 
the series to which some degree of interest fails to attach; and it is hoped 
that, as a whole, the collection will not be regarded as an insignificant con¬ 
tribution to the somewhat barren field of our local antiquities. 

With reference to the letter-press department of the volume, the author 
may be permitted to observe, that the accompanying notices were compiled 
to illustrate a series of plates already prepared, and that consequently he has 
not had the usual advantage of selecting his subject. Had it been otherwise 
the collection might, very possibly, not have been improved ; but as it is, this 
circumstance will, perhaps, serve to excuse, in some instances a meagerness 
of detail, in others an attempt to supply the want by an occasional diver¬ 
gence into the by-ways of descriptive remark. 


ROBERT STUART. 




















\ 


\ 






































LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 


X- I.—Glasgow from the South, in the Reign of Charles (or of James) the Second, 
r' II.—Glasgow from the Merchants’ Park, about the year 1690, 
v-111.—Ruins of the Bishop’s Castle or Archiepiscopal Palace, .... 

^ IV.—Tower of the Bishop’s Castle and St. Nicholas’ Hospital, 

Y.—Prebendal Manse in the Rottenrow, ....... 

Ruined House in the Rottenrow, ........ 

•^VI.—Old Houses opposite the Barony Church, ...... 

•'"VII.—The “ Duke’s Lodgings,” Front View, ....... 

Do. Do. Back View, ....... 

•'''VIII.—The Gorbals Baronial Hall—Plate I., ...... 

^ IX.— Do. Do. —Plate II., ...... 

X.—The Old Merchants’ Hall, Bridgegate, ....... 

The Broomielaw about 1760, ........ 

XI.—The Former Hutchesons’ Hospital, ....... 

The Court-Yard of do. ......... 

r ' XII.—Old Houses in Stockwell Street, ........ 

Old Custom-House, &c. ......... 

*" XIII.—Old Mansion in the High Street, East Side, ...... 

Old Houses in the High Street, West Side, ...... 


} 

} 

} 

} 

} 


To face page 1 

“ “ 5 

“ “ 9 

“ “ 17 

“ “ 22 

“ “ 24 

“ “ 25 

“ “ 29 

“ “ 33 

“ “ 35 

« “ 50 

“ “ 55 



“ 59 


<< (( 


^ XIV.—The Bell of the Brae, 


63 










v — LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

/ XV.—The Blackfriars’, or College Church, Front View, . 

Do. Do. Back View, . 

Old Chapel, <fcc. 

XVI.—The Original Saracen’s Head Inn, .... 

Old Houses in the Gallowgate, ..... 

✓ XVII.—The Trongate about 1750, ...... 

XVIII.—The “ Easter Sugar House,” ..... 

Fiddler’s Close, ........ 

XIX.—Silvercraigs’ Land, ....... 

Former Residence of Campbell of Blytliswood, 

Former Residence of James Watt, .... 

Town House occupied by the late Kirkman Finlay, 

XX.—The Old Bridge, ....... 

XXI.—Part of Argyll Street in 1794, North Side, . 

Do. Do. South Side, 


I 

y To face page 67 

I 

J 



“ 81 


“ “ 98 

Y “ “ 99 

J 

“ “ 102 

“ 104 



L 


XXII.—Part of Argyll Street in 1793, 


10S 


Do. 


Do. 


and Grahamston, 


XXIII.—The Broomielaw in 1802, 

XXIV.—Ruins of the Theatre Royal, Queen Street, 
“ Charlie’s Stables,” .... 
XXV.—Plan of Glasgow in 1783, . 

XXVI.—“The Morning Walk,” 

XXVII.—Old Sculptures, &c. 


“ 109 

“ 110 

“ 113 

“ 116 
at the end of the volume. 


















VIEW OF GLASGOW DURING THE REIGN OF CHARLES THE SECOND. 

DRAWN by CAPTAIN JOHN SLEZER.OF THE ARTILLERY COMPANY. 









VIEWS AND NOTICES 


OF 


GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


GLASGOW FROM THE SOUTH, 

IN THE REIGN OF CHARLES (OR OF JAMES) THE SECOND. 

A S tlie most ancient attempt at a pictorial representation of tlie City known to be 
in existence, the plate which forms the first of the series now before the reader 
will not perhaps be thought unworthy of its leading place. Descending to us, as it 
does, from the midst of times which were of threatening import to many within her 
gates, we have in this picture the means of forming some acquaintance with the 
general aspect of that Glasgow, to the comely, nay, even beautiful appearance of 
which, the poet, the politician, and the soldier have alike borne the evidence of a 
willing admiration. The drawing itself does not, it is true, do more than exhibit a 
partial outline of the city, yet it is of considerable interest as a memorial of the time 
when the half-rural town stood forth from amid a circle of orchards and garden 
grounds, the very mention of which must be refreshing to him who happens to find 
himself, at the present day, in the neighbourhood of the Bridgegate or of the adjacent 
wynds. 

For this view we are indebted to John Slezer, a native, it is believed, of Holland, 
who held an appointment during the reign of William the Third, as Captain of the 
Artillery Company and Surveyor of his Majesty’s Magazines in Scotland. Slezer 
was a man of considerable talent, who attempted much that was not appreciated as 
it ought to have been by the age in which he lived, and it was his fate to maintain, 
in consequence, many a stern encounter with the demon of adversity. In a memorial 
which he presented to the parliament of the day, he states, when referring to his 

A 



2 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


publications, that lie had been encouraged by Charles the Second, his brother the 
Duke of York, and many of the Scottish nobility, to make a collection of drawings 
of the most remarkable Towns, Public Buildings, Gentlemen’s Seats, Ac., existing 
in Scotland; and it was while in prosecution of this design that, among many other 
engravings of interest, he published the plate which presented a view of Glasgow 
from St. Ninian’s Croft. His work, known by the title of “ Theatrum Scoti^e,” 
made its appearance in the year 1693. The expenses incurred by its production 
were the principal cause of his embarrassments, and although his services had been 
more than once acknowledged by the Scottish parliament, he never derived from his 
artistical labours any solid advantage. 

A reminiscence, if it may be so called, of the former city, is here before us, which, 
although bearing witness to many a sweeping change, is yet linked in some degree to 
the present time by means of one or two prominent objects still familiar to the eye. 
The Bridge, the Steeple of the Merchants’ Hall, the other spires exhibited in the 
view, and the distant Cathedral, all combine to remind us that, although the lapse of 
nearly two centuries is in question, we are still looking upon a somewhat familiar 
scene. As to the Bridge, we see it indeed under a form which it no longer presents, 
and from a field of view that imagination alone can recover from the dull uninviting 
line of Adelphi Street; but still, in its spanning arches, we have a trace of connection 
with “ the days of other years,” and something to remind us of the age of David Bruce, 
and of the public spirit of Bishop William Rae. The Steeple of the Merchants’ 
Hall was, when Slezer sketched it, fresh from the builder’s hand. Beyond it are 
seen in succession, stretching to the right, the spires of the old Hutchesons’ Hospital, 
the Tron Church, the Tolbootli, the College, and the Cathedral—all, with the ex¬ 
ception of the first, still in existence. The remainder of the view belongs exclusively 
to the past, in every separate feature that is distinctly shown. It looks sufficiently 
pleasant to the eye; and an air of quiet comfort seems to rest over the distant bank 
of the river, where many a quaint-looking little domicile may be seen—displaying 
its whitened gable to the flowing current of the stream. 

An object somewhat prominent, from the contrast it presents with the dark masonry 
of the arches, is the Water Port, or southern gateway of the city, which stood in the 
line of the present Clyde Street, and a little to the westward of the bridge—having, 
of course, a passage between it and the river, at right angles with the road-way which 
stretched across the stream. This “ Port” was one of great importance, as the only 
convenient point of access from the important counties of Renfrew and Ayr ; and, 
besides serving as a barrier in the way of the idle or evil-disposed, it was here that 
a very considerable proportion was collected of the dues which were levied on the 
agricultural produce that entered the town. 

Although the city of Glasgow was furnished with such gateways at each principal 


OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


3 


approach, it does not appear to have ever been wliat could properly be termed 
a walled town. Prior to the Reformation it was probably entirely open, reposing for 
protection upon the wide-spread power of the Church. The advent, however, of 
Protestant times, accompanied by those numerous scenes of bloodshed and contention 
which preceded the full establishment of religious freedom, would seem to have, on 
various occasions, compelled the inhabitants to provide for the security of the town by 
the formation of walls or trenches at every accessible point. But that these were only 
of partial extent, is evident from a passage or two in the Burgh Records, in which, 
when on particular occasions it was necessary to be wary as to the admission of 
strangers, the Ports are ordered to be carefully guarded, and the citizens are enjoined 
to maintain a proper watch over their “ closs foots and the ends of their zairds.” 

At several periods of historical importance we find, from the same source, the in¬ 
habitants thrown into a condition of high excitement—forsaking, it would seem, en 
masse, the sober occupations of craftmanship, and boldly arming with gun and pike, or 
hastening with spade and pick-axe to the outskirts of the town. One of the most 
extensive exhibitions of this warlike spirit which ever disturbed the equanimity of the 
Burgh, occurred in the summer of 1639, when the adherents to the second “ Covenant” 
were assembling their forces to oppose the army of King Charles. Glasgow was on 
that occasion called on, of course, to supply her quota of men; and what with 
“ wapingschawing,” levying of troops, the importation of arms and ammunition, the 
flaunting of ensigns about the streets, and .other signs of martial ardour, the once 
sober city would seem to have got somewhat crazed, and to have become as violently 
warlike as the fiercest Bellona could desire. Amid the preparations thus making to 
keep his Majesty at a distance, the authorities were not however unmindful that war 
has its accidents, and that it might be prudent to prepare for such an untoward cir¬ 
cumstance as the necessity of a nearer acquaintance with the Royal forces. They 
accordingly resolved upon strengthening the defences of the town : directing, amongst 
other matters, that a wall should be built between the Light-house and the Custom¬ 
house, and that a Port should be erected “ betwixt the Bridge and umqll Johne 
Holrnis hous.” 

This was in all likelihood the “ Port” which Slezer has represented in the view; 
but cannot have been the first which stood in that quarter, as we find the “ Brig Port ” 
mentioned in the Records of the Town Council sub anno 1588. At that period, in 
consequence of the prevalence of the “ pest ” in Paisley, it was ordered to be strictly 
watched, in order to prevent any of the citizens from going forth to attend a market 
or fair, then about to be held in that town. Any person, therefore, bold enough to 
evade the magisterial authority, by visiting the infected district, must have found 
his way across the river by aid of a boat, or by some other means which might 
easily lead to detection; and in the event of such an occurrence, he ran the risk 


4 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


of being amerced in the penalty of “ fyve pundis,” and of banishment from the 
city for <<r zeir and day.” The original gateway had probably been suffered to 
become so much dilapidated during the comparatively quiet period which imme¬ 
diately succeeded the union of the crowns, that it was found necessary to rebuild it 
in the season of excitement before referred to. Subsequently to that date, the 
Minutes of the Town Council contain numerous orders with regard to the repair 
and safe keeping of the Ports—orders frequently expressive of no slight uneasiness, 
which pretty generally alternated between the “ Hielandmen ” and the plague. 

Beyond the gateway in the view, may be observed the upper part of what is said 
to have been the Custom-house, or place where the town’s dues were collected, to 
which we shall, in another part of the volume, have occasion to refer. Farther to 
the left are seen the trees whose waving foliage overshadowed the once favourite 
promenade of the earliest public park possessed by the inhabitants. It stood between 
Stockwell and Jamaica streets; and till within the last sixty or seventy years, was 
a very fashionable place of resort. In an opposite direction, the town is observed 
stretching to the eastward; the houses on the site of the present shambles and their 
noxious vicinity, intermingled with trees, and separated from the river by a low stone 
wall. Where the Molendinar joins the Clyde a little haven seems to have been 
formed for the reception of small boats; this, with the grass-covered banks adjoining, 
and the few little shallops floating in the stream, gives an air of quiet simplicity to 
the picture, that from a present glance at the spot it would indeed be difficult for 
the imagination to realize. 

Then, there is the foreground of the scene, part of St. Ninian’s Croft, a perfectly 
unenclosed common, partially covered with bushes, probably of furze, and here and 
there marked by a few diminutive trees. The grasp of the spreading city has long 
been laid upon it, and row upon row of an inferior class of buildings now possess the 
spot, their unenticing precincts (a general fault in the older parts of the city) far too 
closely built upon, and, as a consequence, redolent in much that will do anything 
but conjure up an idea of “Araby the Blest.” 

Take it all in all, this little view will suggest many a varied reflection, as a record 
of the changes which the lapse of a hundred and fifty years has produced on the 
appearance of the town. In some minds it will call up a kindly thought of the 
former worth and homely respectability of the community ; in others it may awaken 
a different feeling, and suggest comparisons highly satisfactory to our own sense of 
vanity and the glories of progress. Let it not be forgotten, however, that all which 
we may incline to boast of will likewise have their day. It is a hackneyed saying, 
that nothing is immutable below. As Shirley long since wrote :— 


“ The glories of our birth and state 

Are shadows, not substantial things.” 






















. 


. 











































































. 




VIEW OF GLASGOW FUOIVE THE FIRPARK, ABOUT THE YEAR 1690 

DRAWN BY CAPTAIN JOHN S LE Z ER, OF TH E ARTILLERY COMPANY. 



















































' 




















■- 0 - . 


































OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


5 


GLASGOW FROM THE MERCHANTS’ PARK, 

About the Year 1690. 

I N tlie preceding plate we were introduced to an olden sketch of Glasgow from 
the south. The next affords a glance at its former aspect from an opposite 
quarter, and is likewise borrowed from an engraving published by Captain Slezer. 
The spectator whose fortune it was to look upon the reality of the scene as Slezer 
has presented it, may be supposed to have taken his stand, about the period of the 
“ glorious ’88, near the summit of the rising ground now studded with the many 
tombstones of the Necropolis, and to have thence surveyed the most venerable 
portion of the city—that ancient retreat, we are told, both of the Bishops and the 
Muses, in which so many hearts had recently beat for the success of the Prince of 
Orange. Immediately beneath his eye, and prominent above every other object of 
attraction, lay the stately cathedral of Saint Mungo—the main portion of the 
structure showing much as it does at the present day, although in several particulars 
the accuracy of Slezer’s pencil is by no means to be highly commended. Around it 
glimpses of the churchyard were to be had—its southern boundary lined by a towering 
wall of verdure, that has long ceased to arrest the passage of the flitting wind. In 
front was exposed a rustic or garden scene, sloping towards the little stream below, 
and showing in the middle distance a cluster of respectable looking buildings, which 
had at one time belonged, in all probability, to the Rector of Monkland, whose 
parsonage-house stood, we are told, at a short distance to the south of the church, and 
near the rivulet called the Molendinar. Farther off, appeared the castellated palace 
of the superior dignitaries of the pile before him; and in a contrary direction, the 
buildings of the College, with the “ loom ” of the receding city extending beyond. 

The history of the Cathedral is too well-known to require that we should here 
enter upon any of its details. When Slezer looked upon the building, the days of 
its splendour had long passed into oblivion, and a hundred and forty years had rolled 
away since the pageantry of a theatrical form of devotion had been exhibited within 
its walls. The sonorous recitative of the Mass—the harmonious swell of the choral 
hymn—the professed followers of the humble Saviour in all the pomp of vain display 
—the symbol of the “ Death on Calvary ” upraised to view, and the silver censers 
swinging redolent of incense before it—all these had disappeared, and in their place, 
a plain Presbyterian held forth once a-week to a very staid and sedate assembly, to 
whom all the preceding display was an utter abomination, almost sufficient, in their 
opinion, to condemn the very ground on which it had been so long permitted to 

B 


6 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


ensnare the judgment of mankind. It is, however, not uncommon to find that, in 
cases where reason sternly condemns, the less practical faculties of the mind—imagi¬ 
nation, with its desire of finding a material presence of the te soul-stirring,” be it in the 
beautiful or the sublime—will often gloss over much that is corrupt and servile in the 
annals of the past, to invest with a false halo the pomps and ceremonies of former 
times. And such is, no doubt, the insidious state of feeling which animates many a 
visitor, when, surrounded by the interior grandeur of our Cathedral, he indulges an 
occasional reverie upon the “glories” that are gone. But although, at the time 
referred to, the parade of imposing forms was no more to be encountered within, 
still the ancient walls of the temple were there—palpable evidences of what taste 
and the command of wealth could accomplish in so poor a country as Scotland, at a 
time when her foreign trade was confined to the export of a few hides and salted fish ; 
and when her home production was, apparently, seldom more than sufficient for the 
bare subsistence of her people. 

Looking down, as we may be said to do, upon the old, familiar pile, it is scarcely 
possible to avoid thinking of the time when it was in course of erection, and when, 
to the half-astonishment, half-admiration of the rude uninformed inhabitants of the 
neighbourhood, the “ free and independent ” band of masons employed in its con¬ 
struction was assembled at work on the site of the present wide-paved church-yard 
—cutting and polishing at the successive blocks that were destined to form the 
solid courses of the erection, or to be exhibited in the more ornamental portions of the 
design. Although here, perhaps, somewhat out of place, it may be remarked, that 
the builders of the noted ecclesiastical and baronial structures which once adorned 
the country to a wide extent, were generally men of English or foreign origin, who 
travelled in considerable bands from one scene of operation to another, ever ready to 
exchange their skill and labour for the hoarded wealth of the nobility, or for the many 
good things that were known to flow from the secret coffers of the Church. As an 
important and most useful class, these fraternities of masons enjoyed in every quarter 
the highest protection, and were exempted, we may believe, from all pecuniary exac¬ 
tion or compulsory service. Each had its head-man or master-mason, whose duty it 
probably was to superintend the general affairs of the society, to bargain with em¬ 
ployers as to the work to be performed, and to receive from them the money, which 
was afterwards distributed amongst the individuals of the band. 

While the people of Scotland, therefore, were almost wholly uneducated, and 
miserably deficient in a knowledge of the arts, there came amongst them from time 
to time numerous bodies of these artisans, whose arrival in any particular quarter 
must have been an important event to the neighbourhood, and whose lengthened re¬ 
sidence on the spot—a residence at times extending over many years—could scarcelv 
fail to be productive of some little improvement in the general intelligence of the 


OF GLASGOW IN' FORMER TIMES. 


/ 


inhabitants around. It was in the first half of the twelfth century, when that “ sail* 
sanct to the croun,” King David, of pious memory, had restored, and properly 
endowed the see, that one of these masonic fraternities appeared for the first time, 
it is believed, upon the spot which lies before us in the view. The little village 
that is thought to have previously stood in the neighbourhood, would thus at once 
receive a great accession to its population, and would, no doubt, be much increased 
in size, by the erection of houses for the accommodation of the workmen—a class 
accustomed, we may be certain, to a somewhat better style of living than at that time 
prevailed among the peasantry in the north of Britain. The scene which had then, 
day after day, presented itself beyond the rivulet below, has left, however, no record 
of its existence in any part of the Cathedral as it now appears. The labours of the 
craftsmen first assembled there had been employed, it would seem, upon an earlier 
church than the present—reared in what is called the Norman style of architecture, 
and of which some fragmentary remains have been dug up from about the foundations 
of the existing edifice. But, in subsequent times, the masonic bands were again 
gathered upon the spot, with new perceptions of their art, and, perhaps, with an ac¬ 
cession of numbers. The increasing wealth of the see had enabled Bishop Joceline, 
during the reign of William the Lion, to accomplish, it is supposed, the erection of 
the principal part of the present structure ; and great, during many years, must have 
been the skill and activity displayed around its rising walls. In Slezer’s drawing the 
ancient pile looks dark and venerable, as it does to-day. How forcible the contrast 
that fancy will suggest, as we cast back a thought upon the probable picture of the 
scene, when it was rising in the freshness of youth, all new and light-like from the 
workmen’s hands ! 

Blackadder’s Aisle, which, the stranger will require to be told, is the low building 
projecting from the centre of the edifice, does not in Slezer’s time appear to have 
yet been covered by the little garden or flower plot which subsequently existed there, 
to the almost irretrievable injury of the elegant groined arches of the interior. For¬ 
tunately, the days when such a desecration could be permitted, are past, and others 
have arrived, in which, it may be said, a second dawn is breaking upon the fortunes of 
the ancient pile. The trees which lined the southern boundary of the church-yard 
have entirely disappeared, only, we believe, within the last fifty or sixty years. They 
were, probably, relics of the age of Roman Catholic power, and do not seem to have 
been peculiarly venerated in subsequent times, as, amongst other particulars of a 
somewhat similar nature, it is on record that, in the year 1660 , permission was granted 
to “ William Cummyng ” to cut down a tree in the “ Hie Kirk Yaird,” on the con¬ 
dition that he should be at the expense of planting twelve in some other quarter. 

The Consistory, not very accurately represented in the original drawing, may 
be observed at the western extremity of the Cathedral. This building was erected, 


8 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


it is believed, a short time before the period of the Reformation, and, being regarded, 
during the progress of recent improvements, as entirely out of keeping with the 
noble edifice beside it, was taken down in the year 1845. Here the Commissary 
Courts, as they were called, were held for more than two hundred years. These 
courts were originally judicatories established under the authority of the bishops of 
the diocese, and were chiefly intended to take cognisance of those matters of a legal 
character in which the clergy claimed the right of interference. In later times their 
jurisdiction became of a somewhat mixed character, and many are the amusing par¬ 
ticulars which may be brought to light, as to the doings of the former procurators 
of Glasgow, their clients, and retainers, when the subject can be entered upon with 
the necessary scope. There was a time, the reader may be assured, when a space of 
separation no greater than that which intervened between the Commissary Court and 
the fair residences of the Saltmarket, was sufficient to keep many a father of a family 
absent for more than one night at a time from his proper “ house and home.” But, 
then, these were days of trying legal labour, and the midnight oil was necessarily 
in great request in all those quarters of heavy court-business resort—the taverns 
and hostelries in the neighbourhood of the Dry gate. 

The Bishop’s Palace, to which we shall by-and-by more particularly refer, appears 
in the view, extending to the westward of the Cathedral, and beyond it are seen some 
heights, intended, perhaps, for the rising grounds about Port-Dundas, while to 
the left may be observed a somewhat imposing swell of the ground, which, we fear, 
it will now be impossible to discover. With all its faults, however, we have no reason 
to be hypercritical with regard to what Slezer has handed down to our times—remem¬ 
bering, that in this island, the state of art was rude and deficient at the period when 
he ventured to borrow its aid, and that many and great were the difficulties against 
which he had to make good his way. 


















• . • .•< 








V 












. * > 









■RUINS OF THE ARCHBISHOP’S PALACE, 

AS THEY STOOD ABOUT THE YBAR-1780 




















































OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


9 


THE BISHOP’S CASTLE; OR, ARCHIEPISCOPAL PALACE. 

F ROM the earliest period of its existence, the principal officials connected with the 
Cathedral of Glasgow must, in all probability, have had their residences in its 
immediate vicinity; and of these, the largest or most imposing was, of course, in 
every age, that which had the honour of accommodating the chief dignitary of the 
see—the envied primate himself. From the rude character of the times, and in 
consequence of the close proximity of the locality to the Highland frontier, it may, 
on good grounds, be supposed that, from the reigns of David and Malcolm down¬ 
wards, the dwelling-place of the bishop was a fortified building—capable, in case of 
need, of resisting any sudden attack, and of affording a safe retreat to the inhabitants 
of the adjacent little town. 

The first reference we find made to any such structure, carries us back to the 
year 1300, when the forces of Edward the First were in possession of almost the 
whole of the Lowlands of Scotland. At that period, the Castle of Glasgow was 
occupied, we are told, by an English garrison, one thousand strong; placed there for 
the purpose, amongst other objects, of supporting the authority of one Anthony 
Beck, or Beik, an ecclesiastic in the interest of Edward, whom the paternal c< um¬ 
pire ” had thrust into the chair of Saint Kentigern, to the detriment of that most 
patriotic, but most eccentric of dignitaries, Robert Wiseheart. The head of the 
renowned family of Percy commanded, it appears, this formidable band: our earliest 
acquaintance, therefore, with the stronghold of the mitred superiors who watched 
over the “ cure of souls” in the archdeaconries of Glasgow and Teviotdale, is 
formed while we find it in the possession of a foreign enemy—its walls frowning with 
a new and stern aspect upon the troubled inhabitants around. 

From the presence of the English soldiery, as well as from that of Bishop Beck, 
the citizens were soon after relieved by the gallantry of Sir William Wallace, who, 
according to tradition, assailed the enemy at the head of a body of three hundred 
horse, and, after a bloody engagement, forced them to evacuate the town. The calm, 
however, which subsequently reigned in this quarter of the country, proves far from 
advantageous to him who would become the annalist of that only place of strength 
which Glasgow could anciently boast of—the Bishop’s Castle. It is solely when some 
event of historic importance directs a ray of light upon this or that particular struc¬ 
ture, that we are able to enter at all into the story of its fortunes; and as this 
neighbourhood seems to have continued in a state of repose for nearly two centuries 
after the accession of Robert Bruce, there remains a lengthened period during which 
little can be added to the above casual notice of the building under review. 

c 


10 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


Like the Cathedral beside it, the Episcopal Palace would seem to have grown by 
degrees, and to have been so altered during the progress of time, that, in every pro¬ 
bability, it presented at the dawn of the Reformation little or nothing which could 
connect it in appearance with the structure within whose walls may have reposed 
many of our Scottish kings—William of the Lion Heart, or Alexander the Third, 
that best of a lengthened line, who often, during his judicial progresses, made the 
seats of the bishops and nobles his places of abode—and in which the servants of the 
first Edward had gloried over the dream of a conquest that was never to be realized. 
As to the ruinous remains exhibited in the plates which accompany these pages, 
the question of their respective antiquity is pretty well ascertained;—the Great 
Tower, for instance, with some other parts of the structure, were built between the 
years 1430 and 1440, by that ambitious prelate, John Cameron, sometime confessor 
to the potent Earl of Douglas; thereafter secretary to the first of the Jameses ; a 
little later, keeper of the great seal; and, finally. Lord Bishop of Glasgow. The 
remaining portions are of a subsequent date. The smaller Tower would appear 
to have been built by Bishop Beaton a short time before the battle of Flodden; who 
likewise environed the castle with a protecting wall. The handsome gateway, erected 
by his successor, Gavin Dunbar—the last but one of the Roman Catholic prelates 
who occupied the see of Glasgow—is to be seen in the copy of Captain Slezer’s 
plate, but had been entirely demolished prior to the date of the drawings which are 
now in fac-simile before us. Over the gateway alluded to was placed, we are told 
by M‘Ure the first historian of Glasgow, a stone charged with the family arms 
of its founder. We cannot ascertain at what period this part of the structure was 
laid low; probably its demolition occurred while the builder of the old Saracen’s Head 
Inn was drawing his materials from the ruins of the Arcliiepiscopal Palace; but it 
may prove not uninteresting to the reader, to be told that the stone in question has 
been saved from the wreck, and that it now occupies a place on the back wall of a 
house in High Street, situated on the east side, at a short distance from the cross. 
The sculpture which it bears is of an upright oblong shape, presenting in the 
superior division the Royal Arms of Scotland, and beneath them those of Dunbar of 
Mochrum, in W igtonshire—in heraldic language thus described: Or, three cushions 
within a double tressure floiy counterflory, gules, with a mullet for difference.' 1 '' 
Under the archbishop’s shield there is a third, bearing a “ chevron” in the field, but 
of what family emblematic we cannot determine : it does not, at all events, contain, as 
some have supposed, the arms of the prelate’s maternal ancestors, the Stewarts of 
Gairlies, who bore on their family shield a fesse chequy surmounted of a bend 
engrailed. 

* Although this blazonry was borne by the Dunbars of Mochrum, it is not properly that of the house of Dunbar, but of 
Randolph, from which the proprietors of Mochrum were probably descended. 


OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


11 


In a general view, but judging ratlier from the information conveyed by Slezer’s 
drawing than from the sketches ol its last dilapidated condition more particularly 
under notice, the ^residence of the bishops and archbishops of Glasgow seems to have 
been in every respect worthy of the mitred dignitaries who exercised the chief eccle¬ 
siastical sway over a large division of Scotland. Sufficiently capacious to accommo¬ 
date the household necessary to his state and comfort, it likewise contained, no 
doubt, abundant quarters for the reception of as many of those men of unfortunately 
little grace—the heroes of the jack and spear—as might, on occasion, be judged 
requisite to protect his reverence from the intrusion of the lawless. His own apart¬ 
ments were, we may believe, amply commodious, and, with regard to matters of mere 
domestic comfort, second perhaps to none in Scotland. The halls of royalty might 
be more imposing than his, and those of the high nobility be set off in a more showy 
and ambitious style ; but in the study of all that could minister to the essential feeling 
of calm and comfortable repose, the sons of the “ haly kirk” were generally ad¬ 
vanced proficients ; and, in this respect, there can be little doubt but that the mitre 
distanced both coronet and crown. Extended in size, or otherwise improved upon by 
many of the successive prelates who occupied the see, the Bishop’s Castle had only 
reached, what may be called its completion, while those scattered rays were already 
beginning to spread abroad which were destined to concentrate in the full burst of a 
new day upon the hasty flight of its last Roman Catholic possessor. Of the entire 
structure, as before mentioned, the oldest portion that can with certainty be determined 
is Cameron’s Tower, and the most recent, the Gateway erected by Gavin Dunbar. 

The proudest days of the Episcopal Palace were probably those when Bishop 
Cameron was its occupant. This prelate, a person of considerable attainments, 
judgment, and tact, was translated in 1425 to the diocese of Glasgow, by King James 
the First. He had, some time previously, been made chancellor of the kingdom, an 
office which he continued to hold during the first twelve years of his Episcopacy; 
nor was it, perhaps, till after his retirement from state affairs, on the death of that 
monarch, that he was able to devote his attentions to those improvements in its con¬ 
dition which have made his name so celebrated in connexion with the see of Glasgow. 
Animated, apparently, with no small share of the spirit which has long been hereditary 
in the race from which he sprung—the family of Locheil—he seems to have seized upon 
the first moment when his energies could be devoted to the task, to establish himself 
in what he conceived to be the proper position of a spiritual prince. At an earlier 
period he had increased the number of prebendaries attached to the Cathredral from, 
it is said, twenty-six to thirty-two, and now, amongst other important schemes, it was 
his wish that these officials should all be permanently settled around him, so as to 
form, apparently, an ever-present ecclesiastical court, which should reflect an accession 
of dignity upon the position of their superior. While, therefore, he set about pro- 


12 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


viding for the renovation and enlargement of his own particular residence, he, at the 
same time, compelled the thirty-two members of his chapter to build suitable houses 
for themselves in its immediate neighbourhood, and thus did much, at one sweep 
of his authority, to add to the size and appearance of the town. Surrounded, as it 
then was, with so many new and, for the period, handsome erections, and itself 
adorned with sundry imposing additions in stone and lime, the ancient Castle might 
well have seemed to wear the look of augmented pride as its portals swung open 
from day to day to receive the author of all this grandeur. 

Bishop Cameron likewise beautified the Cathedral, and added to its size by 
carrying on, if not completing, the Chapter House, commenced by his predecessor; 
and great, according to M‘Ure, was the display with which he celebrated the termi¬ 
nation of the several undertakings in which he had engaged. Many, no doubt, were 
the scenes of ecclesiastical parade which had of old animated the vicinity of the 
ancient Castle ; but there were probably few or none which surpassed, in the eyes of 
an admiring multitude, the pomp and circumstance of that engrossing day, when 
Bishop Cameron—his cherished objects accomplished—proceeded to make his solemn 
entry into the venerated Cathedral. If, as the poet avers, there be sermons in 
stones, certainly many a striking discourse may be supposed to have emanated from 
those which formed, some sixty years ago, the last lingering relics of the old Episcopal 
Palace. To the citizen of those days, who paused, on his occasional rambles, to scan 
the progress of their desolation, did not the fallen battlement and time-breached wall 
seem to speak in doleful tone of the splendour which had departed, and of those times 
when it vied with the stately fane beside it in lending an imposing aspect to the once 
central scene of priestly authority ? “ Ay”—might these crumbling ruins be thought 
to mutter low—“ thou lookest upon us, son of a degenerate age, while we are fast 
going—ready to be knocked over by sacrilegious hands, and to be carried off piecemeal 
to uphold the roof-tree of, mayhap, some barn of a presbyterian kirk, or to fence in 
the dull haunts of a heretical generation. Alas ! such is our fate, cum ignominia et 
dedecore mori ! yet, bethink thee of all these desecrated walls have seen, and ac¬ 
knowledge that they are entitled to some share of thy veneration. Remember 
of the many times in other days, when every open space—every nook and corner 
around this spot—was crowded with the truly venerating and obedient sons of the 
faith—when every eye was turned to the then imposing towers of the battered pile 
before thee, while from its portal archway went forth many a long array, clad in 
purple and -gold—those saint-like dignitaries, the deans, the archdeacons, the 
chantors, the prebendaries, and the Lord Bishop himself, preceded by mace and 
canopy, and surrounded by the incense bearers, swinging their silver censers to 
and fro. Yes, there was a time, likewise, when the valiant noble and his bold re¬ 
tainers could draw bridle with silent homage as they came in sight of these old 


OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


13 


battlements from yonder turn of the Limmerfield; and many are the stately plumes 
that have been bent before him, as the holy prelate rode out from these gates to pro¬ 
ceed on some courted visitation with the barons and esquires who were to follow in 
his train. Alas for the ages that are gone —JEternum vale !”—And so, had it ever 
been his fortune to ponder, in thoughtful mood, over the wrecks of its fallen greatness, 
the reader might have inclined to utter an “ amen ” over the concluding words of 
such a complaint on the part of the ancient palace—remembering, nevertheless, to 
how much superior a purpose the site of the former castellated structure has been 
applied, in affording space for the Royal Infirmary and the grass-covered area 
before it. 

After the time of Cameron, we hear little of the Bishop’s Castle, in an historical 
sense, until the authority of its possessor had become so lightly regarded, that his 
stronghold was actually assailed, during his absence, by the retainers of a western 
landholder, who made off with his principal goods and chattels as fair and legitimate 
booty. This event occurred in the year 1515, while James the Fifth was a child, 
and during the arclii-episcopate of the elder Beaton. The author of the dese¬ 
cration was John Mure of Caldwell; and as Beaton was then, we believe, chancellor 
of the kingdom, under the regency of the Duke of Albany, there were, no doubt, 
some political reasons at the bottom of all this violence. Be this as it may, the 
palace was rifled, and the Laird of Caldwell was afterwards cited to answer before 
the Lords of Council for the act. In the decree given against him by the court, he 
was found guilty, at the instance of “ ane maist reverend fader in Cod, James, Arch¬ 
bishop of Glasgow,” of “ breaking down” the said Archbishop’s Castle with artillery, 
and of having forcibly ejected its occupants; and was amerced in damages for the 
wrangwis spoliation,” etc. of, amongst other household and personal gear, 13 
feather beds, 18 “ verdour’’ beds, 12 table cloths, 24 tin vessels, “pynts” and 
“ quarts,” 5 dozen pewter vessels, 15 swine, a great quantity of hides, salmon, and 
salted herrings, 12 tuns of wine, a hanging chandelier; a robe of scarlet, lined with 
fur; 6 barrels of gunpowder, with numerous guns, halberts, steel head-pieces, and 
cross-bows ; while “ claithing,” jewels, silks, and precious stones, were likewise re¬ 
ferred to as items of the plunder.—No wonder that Archbishop Beaton thought it 
advisable to encircle his palace with a “ noble stone wall.” 

There can be little doubt but that the seeds of the Reformation began slowly to 
germinate during the troubled minority of James the Fifth; consequently, there were 
probably many in Scotland who even then looked with an evil eye upon the growing 
wealth and ambitious desires of the church, and who were prepared to rejoice in 
secret over such an indignity as the Laird of Caldwell had put upon one of its 
proudest members. Still, any decided expression on the subject of religious opinion 
was dangerous ; and doubtless the shrewd-minded prelate would far rather have 

D 


14 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


winked at the doings of the culprit who stole his feather beds and drank his canary, 
than at the conduct of him who was addicted to reading the words of Scripture in 
the “ vulgar tongue .” It is on record that, at so early a date as the year 1407, one 
James Resby was burned at Glasgow for denying that the Pope was the vicar of 
Christ. In 1527, two individuals, Russell and Kennedy, suffered at the east end of 
the Cathedral on a similar accusation ; and such examples of severity had their effect 
for a season, although they doubtless did much to embitter the minds of the people 
against the entire system of the Romish religion. Until almost on the eve, therefore, 
of the final struggle which was destined to establish a new form and new principles 
of worship throughout the land, the tenor of affairs would seem to have held a 
tolerably even course around the precincts of the Archiepiscopal Palace. The 
mutterings of the gathering storm may have been often heard, but they as often died 
away in the distance, and the atmosphere around continued to be far from violently 
disturbed, if not perfectly serene. 

At length, however, this deceitful state of repose was to be rudely invaded, and as 
the great climax approached, the Bishop’s Castle was destined to be once more 
startled from its security. While that miserable and selfish truckling was in the 
ascendant, which stained the measures of the Regent Arran, Mary of Guise, and other 
magnates, during the infancy of the hapless daughter of a lengthened line of kings, 
the gallant Earl of Lennox, father of Henry Darnley, after an attempt to entrap 
him on the part of these individuals, found it advisable, on his march from Leith to 
Dumbarton, to place a garrison in the Castle of Glasgow. The men left in this 
dangerous and isolated position were, no doubt, chiefly Highlanders, and a favourable 
specimen they proved of the ten thousand warriors who had gathered around their 
chief, when, landing from France a short time previous, he had set his foot upon his 
native heather and demanded their aid. The then archbishop of the diocese was, be 
it observed, a near relative of the notorious Cardinal Beaton ; and one of the earliest 
steps taken by the Regent, after the retreat of Lennox, was that of laying siege to the 
Castle of Glasgow. Having mustered a considerable army at Stirling, he accordingly 
made his way by the Stable-Green Port into a near proximity to its walls, and opened 
fire upon it from what were then looked upon as engines of tremendous power, brass 
guns carrying balls of ten or twelve pounds weight. To the honour of the garrison, the 
Castle held out for nine days, but on the tenth its defenders agreed to surrender on 
condition of receiving quarter, and being allowed to retire unharmed. To the lasting 
disgrace, however, of the Earl of Arran, these brave opponents had no sooner opened 
the gates than they were butchered almost to a man. We must not, of course, always 
judge of the actions of former times by the standard which regulates the opinions of 
mankind in the nineteenth century; but, with regard to such an act, it was certainly 
one that would receive the condemnation of every age. Within a short period of the 


OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


15 


taking of the Castle by Arran, occurred what is called the Battle of the Butts, 
which was fought near the site of the present infantry barracks, and in which the 
forces of the Earl of Lennox were totally defeated; while the city of Glasgow was 
abandoned, in consequence, to the tender mercies of Arran’s victorious followers. 

The ball rolled on, if we may use the simile, gathering a powerful impetus amid 
the troubles of the times. It is in no degree surprising, therefore, that the next 
historical notice which we meet with in regard to the Palace of the Roman Catholic 
prelates of Glasgow, should be marked with the presence of much fear and anxiety on 
the part of its inmates. Archbishop Beaton, (properly Bethune,) the second of the 
name who had been appointed to the see, was, it would appear, a person worthy of 
considerable respect, but the virtues of an individual were as nothing in a scale that 
already “ kicked the beam,” from the utter absence of good which had attended the 
system with which he was connected; and, as the storm grew apace, we find that, in 
the year 1558 the owner of the building, of which the last remains afforded the 
subject of our plate, was obliged to solicit the future Marquis of Hamilton to supply 
him with a garrison for the protection of his own person, and the preservation of 
those “ sacred ” vestments, golden chalices, silver coffers, caskets, et hoc genus omne, 
which, fifty years before, the sturdiest knave in Clydesdale might have feared to ap¬ 
proach. This protection, however, was but dubious at the best; and as the hopes of 
the Church seemed to be rapidly on the wane, the really worthy Archbishop thought 
proper, very soon afterwards, to seek for safety in a foreign land; and depressing, we 
may believe, were his thoughts when passing for the last time under that archway, 
over which—if he did cast one lingering look behind—his eye must have rested on 
the sculptured arms of his less tempest-tossed predecessor, Gavin Dunbar. 

Little more remains to be said of the Bishop’s Castle. Although occasionally 
repaired and inhabited by the protestant prelates of Glasgow, the days of its prime 
had passed away with the advent of reformed opinions; and thereafter it could be 
regarded in no other light than in that of some old ancestral mansion, within whose 
halls the voices of the legitimate possessors were to be heard no more. Among the 
particulars which refer to the history of the building subsequent to the accession of 
James the Sixth, may be mentioned the brief siege which it sustained in the year 
1570. The reader may remember that, in the spring of that year, the Regent 
Murray had been shot in the town of Linlithgow—an event which instantly called 
the Hamilton party to arms, with the avowed object of restoring Queen Mary to the 
throne. After marching to Edinburgh to liberate the Duke of Chastelherault, their 
chief, and many other friends to their cause, who had been there kept in confinement, 
the Hamiltons laid siege to the Castle of Glasgow, held at the time in the name of 
the infant king. It is said that the governor was then absent, and that the garrison 
consisted of only twenty-four men, who, however, successfully defended their post 


16 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


until the besiegers were obliged to retire on the approach of that army, which the evil 
passions of the English queen had let loose upon a wretchedly divided country, to 
plunder and destroy. 

By the time, accordingly, when good “ King Jamie,” found himself called upon 
to bear the weight of a double crown, the Castle of Glasgow had shown itself, it 
would seem, to be anything but proof against the assaults of time, or the results 
which usually spring from the contentious spirit of man. It had, in fact, fallen into 
a state of complete disrepair, and had even been used as a prison, but was restored 
in 1606 by Archbishop Spottiswood, and became his place of abode, with something 
like a renovation of its earlier importance. In 1661, according to Rae, the Bishop's 
Palace, “ a goodly building,” was still in preservation; by the time, however, when 
Merer wrote his “ Short Account of Scotland,” A.D. 1689, matters were, it would 
seem, not a little changed as regards the halls which had so long sheltered the spiritual 
princes of this favoured locality, for he tells us that, “ at the upper end of the great 
street, stands the Archbishop’s Palace, formerly, without doubt, a very magnificent 
structure, but now in mines.” We must not, however, understand by this, that it had 
actually become uninhabitable, as we find that even some twenty-five years later the 
building was found sufficient for the safe keeping of above three hundred highlanders 
—heroes of the outbreak of 1715—with regard to the ultimate disposal of whom the 
authorities of the city appear, from the burgh records, to have been sadly at a loss, 
as the Duke of Argyll was in no hurry to relieve them of the charge. Defoe, writ¬ 
ing in 1727, takes notice of the Archiepiscopal Palace as a “ ruinous castle inclosed 
by an exceeding high walland this is, it may be said, the last notice we have of 
the building till between the years 1755 and 1778, in which the principal work of 
demolition was carried on; after that came the final destruction of 1789, when the 
last vestiges of the edifice were removed to make way for the erection of the Royal 
Infirmary. 

As these “ notices ” must, of necessity, be somewhat discursive, we may not 
pass over the circumstance, that the first theatre which was ventured upon in Glasgow, 
existed in the shape of a common booth, close to the walls of the Bishop's Palace. 
This place of amusement was opened in 1752, and had the honour of receiving on 
its boards the then famous Digges, with several other actors of metropolitan celebrity. 
As yet, however, the public mind was, in general, far from prepared to sanction such 
an innovation ; everything in the shape of stage exhibitions being regarded by the 
vulgar, as either savouring of some hidden design in the management of that ever- 
restless intriguer, the “ Pope of Rome," or as conclusive of a forcible desire to steal 
a march upon the sedate inhabitants of this most watchful realm, on the part of that 
still more formidable antagonist, the Prince of Darkness himself. So virulent was 
the expression of popular opinion on the subject, that it was on many occasions 






































































PART OF THE-ARDHBISHOP’B PALACE &, S T NICHOLAS’ CHAPE I 

AS THEY STOOD ABOUT THE YKAR1780 




























































% 
















r 









OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


17 


necessary to have a military guard in attendance upon those parties of the wealthier 
classes proceeding from the fashionable districts about Prince’s Street and the 
Saltmarket to visit this place of amusement, and to bestow their plaudits on the 
histrionic abilities of a Love, a Stampier, or the fair and graceful Ward. At length, 
however, the vox populi became too powerful for the safety of this cause of offence, 
and in 1754 it was demolished at the instance of the well-known Wliitefield—who, 
while preaching to a numerous congregation in the High Churchyard, suddenlv cast 
his eyes upon the luckless booth, and having denounced it to his excited hearers as 
the habitation of the devil, it was, immediately thereafter, levelled with the ground. 

Adjoining the quadrangular tower, in the first of the two views of the ruined 
castle, will be observed a quaint-looking little structure, the mild and rounded aspect 
of which contrasts forcibly with the sharp and stern outline of the neighbouring 
battlements. This was the chapel attached to the hospital of St. Nicholas—a relic of 
other days, removed in the year 1808, to permit of the formation of St. Nicholas 
Street. This hospital was erected in 1456' ;: ' by Bishop Muirhead, and was endowed 
by him with an income sufficient for the maintenance of twelve decayed laymen 
and a priest. The chapel stood at the side of the main building, and is described 
by Nisbet in his Heraldry as “ a place of fine aisle-work, of a Gothic form, and 
the windows supported by a buttress between each of them.” Over the doorway 
appeared the arms of the founder, (a cadet of the house of Lauchop in Lanarkshire,) 
three acorns upon a bend dexter, etc.—an exhibition of, perhaps, excuseable vanity, 
which was repeated on other parts of the edifice. In the year 1789, the ruinous 
hospital and some adjacent ground were acquired by the magistrates of Glasgow from 
Mr. John Campbell of Clathic and the other patrons of the institution, on condition 
that the city should be liable for the payment of a small annual sum for the support 
of its poor; and from them it latterly came into the possession of the Glasgow Gas- 
Light Company, by whom these ancient buildings were, from necessity, demolished. 

The low line of building seen in the distance of the second view, with a turret or 
belfry in the centre, was the Alms’ House, or Trades’ Hospital, a small part of which 
is still in existence. It was erected during the seventeenth century! as a retreat for 
a certain number of reduced members of the fourteen incorporated crafts, and stood 
upon the site occupied in earlier times by the residence of the prebendary of the 
parish of Morbottle, who -was likewise, by virtue of his office, Archdeacon of Teviot- 
dale. In addition to the accommodation requisite for its inmates, this building con- 

* In 1471, according to some accounts. 

f Or even at an earlier date; unless an older building of the same description had preceded the last mentioned, as it is on 
record in the minutes of the burgh, under the date of 15th July, 1589, that Mr. Patrick Walkinshaw, Sub-Dean of Glasgow, was 
“ decernit and ordanit to flitt and remove himselfe, servandis, and guidis, incontinent, furth and fra ane south mid chalmer, 
occupiet be him of the tenement of the Almous hous, besyde the Castell.” It may here be observed, that the original drawings 
from which our plates have been copied, are in the possession of James Smith, Esq. of Jordanhill. 

E 


18 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


tained a diminutive hall, in which, prior to the erection of their premises in Glassford 
Street, the members of the Trades’ House were accustomed to assemble on public 
occasions. Until a late period, there was placed in one of its windows a box, in 
which the charitably-disposed were accustomed to deposit their gifts ; and, at no very 
remote date, it was usual for the bell in its little turret to be tolled on the passage ol 
any funeral party towards the neighbouring churchyard—a mark of respect which was 
generally acknowledged by a small donation from the relatives of the deceased. 
Above the box was placed an inscription, bearing, it is said, the date of 1636, 
and speaking to the sympathies of the passers by in this homely paraphrase of the 
striking words of the apostle :— 

“ Give to the Pvir, and thou sal have treasur in Heavin.” 


OLD HOUSES IN THE ROTTENROW, 

( North Side. ) 

O F the numerous manses, or parsonage houses, erected in Glasgow during the 
reigns of the Jameses, there are a few which still linger upon the scene, despite 
the ruthless march of innovation and the silent ravages of time. It may readily be 
supposed, however, that, in every instance, they bear at the present day but few 
traces of the actual aspect which was theirs when, amid the surrounding dwellings 
of an humble and dependent population, they stood forth with something of an 
aristocratic air—the chief and most desirable-looking edifices of the town. What 
with alterations and repairs, the few which remain have, in reality, become so greatly 
modernized, that we suspect there are many among our readers who will find a 
difficulty in believing that the houses referred to can belong to so distant an era as 
that of Bishop Cameron, or of any of his succesors during the existence of the 
Papal authority in Scotland. That some few, however, may still with certainty be 
pointed to, as having stood more than three centuries ago where they still attract the 
attention of the visiter, is a fact that cannot be questioned; and among these few, 
we have, in the first instance, to take notice of that which is represented in the 
upper division of the plate which follows the two views of the Bishop’s Castle. 




OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


19 


The ancient edifice in question (for, in speaking of the relics of the old episcopal 
city, we may well apply the word ancient to objects of comparatively no very distant 
age,) stands upon the north side of the Rottenrow at a short distance from the 
High Street, and may have frequently caught the attention of the visitant to that 
almost deserted locality, as a building that told of former respectability, and of a 
prosperity which has altogether abandoned the spot. At what particular period it 
was erected we cannot determine. It is not, probably, so old as to be included 
amongst those built during the reigns of James the First and Second; but that it 
was in existence prior to the Reformation, and that it was then occupied as his 
town residence by the parson of Moffat, is a portion of its history which we can 
state upon the authority of documents not to be gain say ed.'* 

The reader at all familiar with the various works which have been given to the 
public as Histories of Glasgow, will know that the first which appeared—that of 
M‘Ure—forms the basis on which almost all the others have reposed for whatever 
concerned the earlier records of the city ; and a tolerably respectable work it is, if we 
look to the time when it was written, to the senility of its author, and to the many 
eccentricities of a narrow but observing mind, which, if we may judge by his book, 
had marked the whole character of the man. To M‘Ure, therefore, we cannot but 
acknowledge ourselves to be considerably indebted, as proving, in some measure, a 
useful guide to the antiquities of Glasgow; and from him we learn, with regard to 
the building in question, that it had been originally the parsonage house of the Rector 
of Renfrew, but that, at the period of the Reformation, it belonged to the incumbent 
of Moffat, Mr. John Wardlaw, who, at that time, transferred it to the possession of 
his nephew, a cadet of the family of Torry. 

In contemplating the flight of time, the lapse of three centuries may be looked 
upon as a trifle ; but, as regards the annals of Glasgow, the interval appears ex¬ 
tended beyond its natural proportions—so great are the alterations which it has 
produced—so utterly changed are the feelings and the habits of her people. 
While looking on this old building—still bearing the traces of some former conse¬ 
quence—and while thinking of the quiet little episcopal city of which it originally 
formed a part, we cannot but revert in idea to the great event of the Reformation, 
and to the circumstance, that its progress was not hailed in the most friendly 
spirit by the people of Glasgow. Nor was this at all surprising, when we consider 
how much the support of its inhabitants depended upon the officials of the church, 
and their numerous visiters and attendants; and certain it is that, when, through 
the greed of the Scottish nobility, which Providence directed, we may venture 
to believe, into a channel that was eventually to be productive of good, the entire 
system of the ancient religion was overthrown, there were many laymen, besides the 

* We refer to the title deeds of the property, which we have been kindly permitted to examine. 


20 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


burghers within sound of the bells of Saint Mungo’s, who had occasion to lament 
the change. The benefit that was to follow was not in every instance distin¬ 
guishable to the vulgar eye, and was a thing which, in the course of his lifetime, the 
citizen of Queen Mary’s days could scarcely hope to experience; while, in the case 
of those who lived by the expenditure of a wealthy national establishment, the loss 
was decided and immediate. The riches which flowed hither to a centre from every 
corner of a diocese of princely extent, could not fail to prove the means of attaching 
a numerous body of the inhabitants to the individuals by whom they were dispensed. 
The progress of the Reformation did not, we may suppose, meet with disfavour among 
many of the burghers of Glasgow, because, like the countryman in the old ballad, 
tliev sorrowed for the times when, in the words of the lament— 

“We had our holy water, 

Our holy bread likewise— 

And many holy reliques 
We zaw before our eves 

but simply because they perceived that it would have a material tendency to injure 
their temporal advantages, and to affect the general prosperity of the place. 

And that such fears were for a season amply realized, is well ascertained ; for even 
previous to the outbreak at Perth, when the rude hands of the multitude were first 
raised against the religious houses, there appears to have been much anxiety felt 
amongst the members of the chapter of Glasgow, and it would seem that, in order to 
save them from impending confiscation, many of the prebendaries made over their 
houses to lay relatives—as in the instance of the parson of Moffat—or sold them to 
some of the Protestant party, who were not unwilling, perhaps, to secure at a low 
rate, and while it was yet time, a legal title to the property of the menaced 
churchmen. Very soon, accordingly, there was a mighty change in the condition of 
the burgh. The palace became deserted, and the prebendal houses were transferred 
to the hands of absentees, or were now occupied in poverty and gloom, while a 
host of servants and other dependants of their once lordly possessors were thrown 
penniless upon the town—no longer bearing it bravely, with some little “ over and 
to spare,” but compelled to forage as they best might for a precarious existence."' 
All this inflicted for a time a sad reverse upon the fortunes of Glasgow, and may 
well have led her citizens to sorrow over the change which saw, amongst others, the 
parson of Moffat obliged to become a stranger to his snug quarters in the Rottenrow. 

By young Wardlaw of Tony, or some of its subsequent possessors, the building 
was transferred to Mr. John Bell, minister of Cardross, from whom it was afterwards 

* In 1587, the inhabitants of Greyfriars’ Wynd, while complaining about the removal of the markets from the Bell of 
the Brae to Trongate, represented to James the Sixth, that the said Wynd was decayed, and the high part of the town ne¬ 
glected, since the “blessed Reformation .”—Vide Cleland’s Stat. Tables, 1823, p. 170. 


OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


21 


purchased, or rented, by one of the clergymen of Glasgow. M‘Ure informs us that, 
at the period when he wrote, the ci-clevant manse of the parson of Moffat belonged 
to “ one Mr. Crawford.” The expression “ one,” here made use of, is curious, and 
would almost lead us to suppose that, from some feeling of literary jealousy or other, 
the venerable annalist of the city was not on the best of terms in the world with the 
individual referred to ; for, from documents which we have recently had an oppor¬ 
tunity of examining, this “ Mr. Crawford ” appears to have been none other than 
George Crawford—even in M‘Ure’s time, the well-known historian of Renfrewshire. 
We are led to this passing inference from the evidence afforded by a manuscript 
contract bearing the date of 1752, and containing a disposition of the property, at 
the instance of “ Patricia, "' Bertheia, and Marion Crawfords, lawful daughters of 
the deceased George Crawford, Historiographer in Glasgow,” who then received one 
hundred and forty pounds sterling for the house in question, with the court-yard 
behind. Crawford published his Genealogy of the Stewarts , and Account of Ren¬ 
frewshire, in 1710, and his could not be a name unknown to one so much addicted 
to groping amid the antiquities of history as John M‘Ure. 

Little more can be said of this ancient edifice. After passing through a number 
of hands from the time when it was disposed of by the Crawfords, it came, in the 
year 1825, into the possession of the Glasgow Gas-Light Company, and is now 
occupied by some of the workmen in their employment. Thus, after the lapse of 
three, perhaps four hundred years, from the time of its erection, it still continues to 
witness beneath its roof the daily stir of life; and although under a mighty change 
of circumstances, yet it is far from being so debased in condition as are many once 
noted buildings, of much inferior antiquity, in other parts of the town. 

By some persons this edifice has been looked upon as the old College, although 
it is certain, as will be afterwards shown, that the remains of any structure to which 
the name might be applied, are rather to be sought for on the opposite, or south side 
of the Rottenrow. Possibly enough, however, on either side may have been situated 
buildings set apart as the abodes of the students who attended our University in 
its earliest years, and the parson of Moffat’s manse may have been one of these ; 
but that any regular college buildings existed prior to the year 1459—when Lord 
James Hamilton bequeathed to the institution the lands on which the present class¬ 
rooms, etc. stand—is highly improbable, as we are told that when the University was 
first established, premises situated near the Cathedral, and close to the chapter-house 
of the Dominicans, had been granted by the bishop of the diocese, in order that the 
lectures in Theology and Canon Law might be therein delivered.! 

* We find the following notice copied into the Analecta Scotica, Edin. 1834, Vol. I. p. 71. :—“ Nov. 23d, 1795. Died at 
Glasgow, on Monday last, Miss Peter Crawford, [the sounding ‘Patricia’ has here dwindled into common-place] daughter of 
the late George Crawford, Esq., author of the Peerage of Scotland, of the History of the Family of Stewart, and of Ren¬ 
frewshire. ’ ’ 

f Cleland’s “ Enumeration,” &c., folio, 1832, p. 46. 

F 


22 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


Immediately adjoining to that which forms the principal object in the plate, there 
exist the remains of a house which must have been of some consequence in its day, 
as it bears upon the front wall the traces of a sculptured escutcheon, which, being 
charged with a fesse cliequy, most probably indicated the proprietorship of the 
Stewarts of Minto—a family whose connection with Glasgow was, it is well known, 
very intimate, and to which we shall again have occasion to advert. 


RUINED HOUSE IN THE ROTTENROW, 

(South Side.) 

O N turning into the Rottenrow from the High Street, the curious in such matters 
will find the subject of our next drawing standing upon his left, a little retired 
from the line of the adjacent houses, and facing in grim and battered desolation 
what, in its case, may be called the last assaults of that triumphant enemy, Time. 
Divested of every vestige of former character and condition, unroofed and deserted, 
there, the skeleton of the building still holds its place—an object, of course, of special 
unconcern to the good people who live beside it, but not unfrequently favoured with 
the inquisitive notice of the stranger. We have endeavoured, but without success, 
to learn something of the age and actual history of this edifice. Tradition, 
speaking through some of the older denizens of the neighbourhood, has reported that 
here was the ancient college, and this is almost all that we can say about it. That 
it had in some manner been connected with the University in its infant years, either 
as the residence of the students or otherwise, is sufficiently probable, and even that 
it is in reality the structure so often referred to in ancient documents as “ the Aulde 
Pedagog,” we cannot pretend to deny. It is known from an old deed preserved in 
the charter-room of the University, that the said “ Aulde Pedagog ” was situated on 
the south side of the Rottenrow and if this information be coupled with the 
evidence of popular report, we shall not perhaps be very far wrong in looking upon 
this deserted ruin as the actual building which is there alluded to. 

*“.... de terns tenement! et loci nuncupati Aulde Pedagog / jaccntibus in via Ratonum . . . ex parte 

australi, inter tenementura magistri Joliannis Rede ex parte occidentali, et terras Roberti Reid ex parte orientali,” <fcc_The 

document is dated 1524.— Vide the Supplement to the “ Book of our Lady College," &c., to be again referred to. 























































































































■ 











































1 























J>ra»m and Lithographed 


hy JtF*r£a*nx», l’l«a^o' 





















































* 


































‘ 














OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


23 


The College, as is well known, was called into existence by Bishop Turnbull, 
who, in the year 1450, obtained from Pope Nicholas V. the bull that was necessary 
to confirm its establishment. As previously mentioned, this institution is believed 
to have been possessed of no buildings of its own for several years after its founda¬ 
tion, so that the tenement referred to as the “ Aulde Pedagog,” may have been 
simply used as a place of residence by some of the teachers or students, and not set 
aside as a place of assembly for the Faculty of Arts, for which the chapter-house of 
the Cathedral or that of the Blackfriars—said, in addition to the building lent by the 
Bishop, to have been granted for the purpose—must have proved much better 
adapted than the diminutive structure which this seems to have been. 


Before leaving the Rottenrow—one of the oldest streets in the city—the following 
few particulars may have some interest with the general reader. They are gleaned 
from among the curious documents printed as an appendix to the volume of the 
Maitland Club publications, containing The Book of our Lady College, Ac. 

In the year 1440 “ Donaldus Taylyhour ” burgess of Glasgow, sells to Master 
John “ de Daigles,” one of the vicars officiating in the Choir of the Cathedral, a 
tenement with its appurtenances, namely, four carucates* of front land and garden, 
situated on the south side of the street called “ Ratownraw,” between the property 
of “ Jonete Pyd ” on the east, and that of the Sub-dean of Glasgow, known as 
“ Deneside,” on the west, for what seems the merely nominal sum of five merks 
Scots, ( “ quinque marcis vsualis monete Scocie ”) i. e. about five shillings sterling. 

In 1425, it is agreed upon between that “ venerabilem et circumspectum virum,” 
the Snb-dean of the church of Glasgow, and “ Willelmus Nicholai,” burgess, with 
the consent of “ Jonete/’ his wife, that, as the said William Nicholai, is con¬ 
siderably in arrear in the payment of the duties upon a tenement, on the north side 
of the Rottenrow, held in perpetual feu from the above official for the annual sum of 
ten shillings Scots, he consents to restore the property into the hands of the said 
superior; with the reservation in liferent to himself and his wife, or the survivor of 
the two, of the garden attached to the house in question, with the well, trees, and 
other ** pertinents ” thereunto belonging—the whole to revert at their demise into 
the possession of the Sub-dean. The instrument is witnessed—“ Willelmo de 
Gowan canonico Glasguensi, dominis Johanne de Daigles vicario ecclesie de Dregarne, 
Johanne Proctoure presbitero, Johanne de Neutoun vicario in choro Glasguensi, 
Johanne Wyschard balliuo,” and three of the burgesses. 

* The carucate signified, it is generally understood, a piece of land such as one team could plough during the season ot 
preparing the ground for seed. 



24 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


To conclude—in 1434, “ Johne Stewart,’ 5 Sub-dean of Glasgow, with the consent 
of the Bishop and Chapter, conveys “ ane akyr of land of my land callit the Denesyde 
lyand in lynth and brede on the north syde of the comown strete callit the Ratown- 
rawe next a west half the tenement of Thom Curouris,” etc. to “ Thome of Welk,” 
a burgess of the town, his heirs and assignees. He or they “ Gyffand to me and my 
successouris sodenes of Glasgu for the tyme beand, at two vsuall termys Quhitsonday 
and Martynmes yherly, sex syllingis and aclit penys [of vsuale mone] of Scotland, 

.the said Thome of Welk beand oblist to byg a sufficiand tenement on the 

said akyr of land within a yher followand the date of thir letrez and alsua to mac the 
half of the calse befor the forfront of the said akyr als far as to thaim pertenys and 
til vphald,” &c. To this deed the seals of the Bishop and Chapter, together with 
that of the Sub-dean himself, were attached, and it is witnessed by “ Schir Jon of 
Daigles, Schir Richard of Are,” vicars in the choir, and other persons. 


OLD HOUSES OPPOSITE THE BARONY CHURCH. 


T hese are some other buildings of ancient date, with regard to the precise age 
and history of which we have been unable to procure any authentic information. 
Only one of the two—that occupying the foreground to the left—is now in existence. 
In the style of its architecture it bears a considerable resemblance to the house in 
the Rottenrow which had appertained of old to the Parson of Moffat, and, like it, 
had probably been one of the Manses erected to accommodate the members of the 
Chapter of Glasgow. We cannot discover to which of the prebendaries in particular 
this domicile had belonged; but there can, apparently, be little doubt of its having 
seen the day when some one of the number was its occupant and proprietor. 

The majority of the prebendal manses were situated in the Rottenrow and Dry- 
gate, a few stood in Limmerfield Lane, Kirk and Castle Streets, and one or two 
occupied other positions in the vicinity. Each would appear to have had its garden 
or orchard attached. It may be said, indeed, on the evidence of various old 
instruments of sale, and other papers, that almost every dwelling-house in this part 
of the town had been possessed of its garden, in which apple, if not other fruit-bearing 
trees, had seemingly made a respectable figure. In former times the wall of the 
Bishop’s Castle extended before the windows of the building under notice, and the 

















































HC'JSc-S OPPOSITE THE 3AP0T.T CHURCH 















































FRONT Vn-'.W 


"THE, DUKE'S LOD GINCVS'JjRYG-ATE. _ 184-6 

BA-CtCVltTW 



Allan A FergjisOB iith. 































































































































OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


25 


embattled tower within looked loftily down upon it. The picture is now somewhat 
changed. Tower and wall have alike vanished ; and to-dav —sic transit... !—the 

' V 

noisy and “unwashed beseat themselves to circean draughts,"where once upon a time 
the board of the rich and envied churchman had, in all probability, been bounteously 
set forth. But it is needless to detain the reader where nothing of interest remains 
to be detailed. TV e must therefore leave this old house to the chance, should such 
ever arrive, of at some future period having its story made known.'"' 


THE DUKE’S LODGINGS. 

P RIOR to the Reformation there stood near the west end of the Drygate the 
respective dwelling-houses of the Rectors of Peebles and Eaglesham—two of 
the ecclesiastical residences which, like those previously mentioned, had contributed 
to bestow an air of comfort, and even of comparative distinction, upon the leading 
thoroughfares of the olden city. For probably a hundred years or more these build¬ 
ings had existed in neighbourly proximity—receiving within their gates a succession 
of tonsured occupants—when, from the gloomy aspect of affairs, during the days of 
John Knox and his coadjutors, the last of the line were, like the incumbent of Moffat, 
made doubtful as to what might ultimately be considered the value of their titles to 
any “ lands or pertinents ” within the wide circumference of Scotland. It accord¬ 
ingly happened, that about the time we refer to, these two houses, with their appur¬ 
tenances, passed into the keeping of lay proprietors—the first mentioned having been 
transferred to Sir Mathew Stewart of Minto, and the other to the “ laird of Craw- 
fordland,” probably a relative of its last clerical owner, Mr. Archibald Crawford. 

It is upon the site formerly occupied by these prebendal manses, and a portion of 
their garden enclosures, that the irregular pile of buildings known as the Duke’s 
Lodgings stands at the present day. According to the best accounts of their history 
to be gathered from any particulars hitherto published, we learn with regard to the 
property acquired by Sir Mathew Stewart, that, in the year 1605 he caused a great 
part of the old house to be rebuilt, and otherwise, no doubt, to be so enlarged and 
improved as to render it the fitting abode of an ancient and opulent family, and that 

* It may be observed, of the small building or booth erected beside it, that this was many years ago noted as the residence 
f the Glasgow Executioner. 

G 





26 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


from his grandson the property was acquired by the Dowager Marchioness of Montrose. 
In reference to the second building—the Rector of Eaglesham’s manse—it would 
appear, that after having been transferred from the laird of Crawfordland to a suc¬ 
cession of other proprietors, it was eventually purchased by James, the first Duke of 
Montrose, who had it demolished in the early part of last century, to make way for 
the erection of a more commodious mansion—of which, however, he only completed 
a part. 

The portion which now remains of the buildings raised by Sir Mathew Stewart, 
is probably that which stands at the back of the principal range, and the main sec¬ 
tion of which immediately meets the eye, as we pass from the street through the 
entrance to the court behind. A part of the Rector of Peebles’ former abode may 
still perhaps be visible in the ancient edifice which adjoins, on its western side, the 
principal building which appears in our front view, distinguishable by a series of 
“ blind” or closed archways—and this last was, we are inclined to believe, the house 
erected by the Duke of Montrose. 

As striking specimens of the old baronial, or ducal city residence, the well-known 
buildings we refer to will scarcely be thought worthy of particular notice. They, as 
a whole, present no features of architectural distinction ; and the only portion indeed 
on which the casual visitor might incline to rest his attention, is that which, as before 
mentioned, stands in the court behind. This shows in its front some very large, and 
what were, no doubt, once handsome windows; and seems to have contained the 
principal hall in which, we may suppose, the hospitalities of the knightly house of 
Minto had been of old displayed—as, in prominent relief upon the exterior of the 
dark and shaken wall, may yet be seen a lone memento of former consequence, in 
the armorial bearings of that eventually reduced family.'"' 


* There is a slight difference between the arms, as sculptured on this building, and the “bearings ” usually given as those 
of the Stewarts of Minto, in so far as in the former the bend is surmounted of the fesse, instead of surmounting it. The 
proper blazonry, as given by the heralds, is described—“Or, a fesse chequy, asure and argent, surmounted of a bend en¬ 
grailed, and in chief a rose, gules.” This escutcheon is now borne by Stuart, Baron Blantyre—a descendant, through a second 
marriage, of that Sir John Stewart of Minto who died in 1583. Of tins race was the “ admired of all admirers ” at the court 
of Charles the Second—the celebrated beauty, Frances Stewart.—For a representation of the Minto Arms, as sculptured on the 

wall in the Court of the “Duke’s Lodging,” see our concluding Plate (Fig. 3.)-The following is the inscription on their 

tomb—still preserved in the Cathedi'al:— 

HEIR AR BVRIET S R 
WALTIR S« THOMAS SR 
IOHNE SR ROBERT S B 
IOHXE AND S R MATHIEV 
BY LINEAL DESCENT 
TO VTHERIS BARONS 
AND KNICHTS OF THE 
HOVS OF MYNTO W* 

THAIR VYFFIS BAIRNIS 
AND BRETHEREIN. 


OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


A worthy race for several centuries they seem to have proved—the successive 
Lairds of Minto ; and as their connection with Glasgow was for a considerable period 
exceedingly intimate, we may be pardoned, perhaps, for dwelling a little upon their 
history, while looking upon these lofty casements through which the golden light had 
no doubt often shone upon the scenes of their gaiety and courteous display. The 
first of the line who acquired the lands of Minto, situated in the county of Roxburgh, 
was Thomas, third son of Sir Walter '"' Stewart of Dalswinton and Garlies—a 
lineal descendant of the ancient stock of Bonkill, and through it, of Alexander, the 
sixth Lord High Steward of Scotland. About the year 1472, in times when it was 
the practice of the Scottish burghs to select their chief magistrates from among the 
nobility, or the more powerful of the country gentlemen, Sir Thomas Stewart became 
provost of Glasgow, and dying in 1500, left the civic connexion which he had formed 
to be maintained by his son and successor, Sir Jolin.t 

In that disastrous year when King James the Fourth was mustering his forces 
for the march to Flodden, the above Sir John Stewart was chief magistrate of Glas¬ 
gow, and he was one among the many Scotsmen of rank who assembled at the call of 
their sovereign, to sacrifice their lives in his defence upon that bloody field. This was 
a period of dread anxiety to the inhabitants, whose minds were kept in a state of 
painful agitation, between the moment when crowding rumours of evil began to be 
circulated, and that in which their worst fears were confirmed. As occurred in 
Edinburgh at the time, Glasgow was then deserted, we may believe, by almost all 
of the laity who were capable of bearing arms; and among such of the civic 
authorities as remained, it was, no doubt, a matter of great difficulty to restore 
the quiet of the city where all was in a state of confusion, and when, amongst other 
symptoms of calamity, the women might, as elsewhere, be seen lamenting in the 
streets for the loss of the husbands and fathers who were rumoured to have fallen 
with their provost in the fight. His body appears to have been recovered and 
brought to Glasgow—his name being on the list, as one of the race of Minto, who 
have their place of burial within the Nave of our Cathedral. The Sir John slain 
at Flodden had a brother named William, a good and virtuous man according to 
Douglas,| who was born in this city in 1479. He was made Dean of Glasgow in 
1527, and was eventually elevated to the Bishopric of Aberdeen, where he died in 
1545. 


* Douglas in his Peerage calls him “ William,” but the monument in Glasgow Cathedral has it “ Walter.” He seems to 
have been the first of the family interred within its walls ; and although he could not properly be so designated—as it was his son 
who first acquired the estate—still he is, in the inscription, mentioned with his descendants, as “ of the house of Minto.” 

f Cleland in his “ Annals” 2 vols. 8vo. 1816, has in one place (Vol. I., p. 158.) erroneously made Sir John Stewart provost 
in 1472—at p. 5, however, of the same volume he correctly has it “ Sir Thomas.” Subsequent writers seem to have made it a 

rule to copy with the utmost servility—errors and all. 

\ Peerage of Scotland. 


28 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


The next in lineal descent was Sir Robert Stewart, Provost of Glasgow in 1528 ; 
and lie was in turn succeeded by his son Sir John, who likewise filled the same, by 
this time, almost hereditary office. On his demise in 1583, the estates and honours 
of the family descended to Sir Mathew—the individual who built the houses in 
Drygate which have led to the introduction of this brief account of his pre¬ 
decessors. A few years previous, i. e. in 1580, this gentleman had been elected 
Chief Magistrate of the city; and we find that he again held the office in 1586. 
He lived in times when it was no easy matter for a person placed in his position to 
steer an even course; and—in consequence of yielding more to the authority of the 
King than to the wishes of the Presbyterian party—he would seem to have made 
himself somewhat unpopular with a portion of the citizens. M‘Ure, indeed, not un¬ 
biassed by fanaticism, insinuates pretty decidedly that the conduct of this Sir Mathew 
Stewart, in vindicating the Royal authority against a certain party who wished to set 
it at defiance, had been the means of bringing down a curse upon the family of 
Minto. The story is, that when, in the year 1581, their much-thwarted King had 
presented to the see of Glasgow, Mr. Robert Montgomerie—a man, certainly, of no 
very stainless reputation; the stern Presbyterians of the city—hating Episcopacy in 
itself, and glad of an opportunity to invest it with additional odium from the character 
of the individual mentioned—resolutely determined to oppose his appearance in the 
Cathedral, where he was to deliver his inaugural discourse, by having one of their 
own party to take the start of him in getting possession of the pulpit. The indivi¬ 
dual who ventured to bear the brunt of the battle, in thus supplanting the Bishop in 
his Cathedral Church, was Mr. John Howieson, Minister of Cambuslang—by all ac¬ 
counts a man of great worth, and one who was not undeservedly respected in his day. 
As was concerted, he had taken possession of the clerical tribune, and was already 
engaged in addressing a crowd of hearers, when the Bishop made his approach, 
armed with his Majesty’s warrant, when,—finding how matters were proceeding—he 
applied to Sir Mathew Stewart, then Provost of the city, to have the intruder 
ejected. This was accordingly done ; but not before a scuffle had taken place, during 
which Mr. Howieson was somewhat roughly handled .—“ Upon this,” says M‘Ure, 
“ it is credibly reported, and has obtained universal credit here, that Mr. Howie 
(Howieson) denounced some judgement from God on Sir Mathew and his family;” 
and, consequently—as it so happened, that the fortunes of the house of Minto did, 
about a century later, rapidly decline—another instance was here held forth to the 
credulous, of the striking efficacy of, what could be called nothing else than, the “ ban 
of the Kirk.” Of the two immediate successors of Sir Mathew little is known ;* 
the last of the line was his great-grandson. Sir John, who embarked in that unfor- 

* In 1650 a Charter was granted to two Clergymen of Glasgow, with regard to their stipend, &c., by “ Sir Walter 
Stewart, elder of Minto, and Sir Lodoveiek.” his son. —See Note to M'Ure, Edit. 1830, p. 210. 






♦ i- 

"■ ' , ;■ r m~ ' , 



' 


> I Ji —-- - ... ' \ 

f 


- • 

<-*** ► 

5 :;p . ' J:- , 
r ■ ii 


y 

F=! 


FRONT "VIEW OT THE OLD BAilOLTAL HALT 










































































OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


29 


tunate adventure, the Darien Expedition, and who died upon the outward voyage in 
1697.—For almost two centuries the members of this family had held a high position 
among the citizens of Glasgow—nearly as long a period has elapsed since the star 
of their destiny began to grow pale—and now, as things go in this mutable world, 
it is much to say that we still have amongst us—the veritable building which received 
them in life, and the original monument that was reared over their ashes. May the 
moral of their family motto never be lost sight of— 

“ Sola juvat virtus.” 

When he purchased the adjacent property, the first Duke of Montrose was already, 
it is probable, possessor by inheritance of the buildings which had belonged to 
the Stewarts of Minto. As formerly remarked, this nobleman only completed a 
limited portion of what he intended should be his residence in Glasgow; so that in 
the Duke’s Lodgings, we see but the remains of an old, and the fragment of a later 
design. The first Duke w*as the great-grandson of the renowned Marquess of Mon¬ 
trose, and was Keeper of the Privy Seal in the reign of Queen Anne. He was a 
great advocate of the Union; and after supporting a highly respectable character in 
various situations of public trust, he finally closed his eyes upon the scene of mun¬ 
dane existence in the year 1742. 

We regret that we can add nothing to this meagre notice of these old buildings, 
particularly as we believe they are doomed to a speedy destruction. As they do not 
appear, however, to have ever been the scene of any public occurrence of moment, 
it is not perhaps surprising, that what we know of them merely relates to the names 
of those by whom they were built, and to the noble family by which they were subse¬ 
quently occupied. 


THE GORBALS BARONIAL HALL. 

I N directing the reader’s attention to the principal edifice of olden date which it 
may be said to possess, a few words in reference to the ancient condition and 
history of the Gorbals may not be out of place; especially if we pause for a moment 
to contrast the present importance of the united suburbs of the south side of the 
river, with the rather unpromising character of the beginning which heralded their rise. 

H 




30 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


According to some occasional notices to be met with in the documents of former 
days, the whole of that almost level plain which extends from the bank of the river to 
the rising grounds about Langside was originally a bleak and barren moor-'—covered, 
probably, with heath and scattered patches of furze, and over which passed one or 
two solitary tracks of road, leading towards the principal ford that admitted of a 
passage to the shrine of St. Mungo. Near this ford a ferry had, no doubt, been 
early established, and long before the erection of the wooden bridge—which, as will 
be afterwards more particularly noticed, is supposed to have been in existence so 
early as the year 1230—it is highly probable that a little hamlet had occupied the 
ground, now crowded by the rather unsightly buildings forming the entrance to the 
Main Street of Gorbals. It is, indeed, averred by that most bland and insinuating 
of all our city annalists, the Rev. Mr. Wade, that we have the authority of tradition 
for this belief; we may venture to conjecture, therefore, that the nucleus of the Gor¬ 
bals showed itself in a few very rude dwellings, which rose by slow degrees in the 
vicinity of the ferry. 

The light of anything like authentic history, however, only falls upon the spot 
with the advent of the time when that apparently worthy prelate. Bishop Rae, had 
entered upon the expensive task of uniting the two banks of the Clyde by a durable 
edifice of stone. This—for the age, important undertaking—was accomplished about 
the year 1350, and its completion was, doubtless, a matter of considerable conse¬ 
quence to the cotters on the south side of the river, and must, probably, have led to 
some increase of the little village established there. It has been generally reported 
that, about the same time, a certain “ Lady Lochow ” purchased much property on 
both sides of the stream ; and that, animated by charitable feelings, she immediately 
afterwards established on that part of the moor subsequently called St. Ninian’s 
Croft, an hospital for the reception of lepers, which she endowed in a befitting manner, 
and which long continued to exist—a drawback, no doubt, on the increase of the 
neighbouring hamlet; but not the less a monument of her benevolence and piety. 

But with regard to this “ Lady Lochow,” some very singular blunders have been 
made, by almost all who have written upon the history of Glasgow. The originator 
of the whole is M‘Ure, and—right or wrong—it will be found that his statements have, 
in general, been most servilely copied. According to his account, “ the Lady Lochow ” 
founded the Lepers’ or St. Ninian’s Hospital about the year 1350, and while the 
bridge constructed at the expense of Bishop Rae, was in course of erection. Of the 
cost of the structure, she requested, it is said, to bear a part, and was in consequence 
permitted by the worthy prelate to be at the expense of building one of the arches. 
Now, all this may be so far correct, and a Lady Campbell of Lochow may have per¬ 
formed both of those good actions while Bishop Rae ruled over the see of Glasgow. 

* “ Muir-heugh ” is the term applied to it, stib anno, 1655.—Vide Memorabilia of Glasooiv, (privately printed) p. 174. 


OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


31 


which he did from 1335 to 1368 ; but that the said “ Lady Lochow ” was, as we are 
subsequently informed, none other than Marjory Stewart, daughter of Robert, Duke 
of Albany, grand-daughter of King Robert the Second, and wife of Duncan Campbell 
of Lochow, the first of his race who bore the title of “ Argyle,” is a piece of his¬ 
torical blundering which—singular at first—has become infinitely more remarkable 
from its frequent repetition in print. This will be sufficiently evident, when the reader 
is reminded that, at the period when the above charitable lady was, by these accounts, 
founding the Lepers’ Hospital, &c., her reputed father could only have reached the 
juvenile age of about eleven years,* while Sir Duncan Campbell of Lochow, the 
person mentioned as her husband, must at the time have been still younger, as his 
death did not occur for a century after the date of her charitable undertakings— 
that is, in the year 1453. Had there been no mention of Bishop Rae, or of the 
construction of the bridge in the case, we might have supposed that our annalists had 
made a mistake in the date, and that, instead of 1350 we should read 1450 as the 
era of the foundation of the Lepers' Hospital in Gorbals; but as the matter stands, 
there is no such outlet of escape, and we can only record our surprise at the singular 
inattention which has so long perpetuated such a specimen of “ History.” If the middle 
of the fourteenth century was the period when the Lepers’ Hospital was erected on St. 
Ninian’s Croft, the benefactress to whom it owed its foundation, was probably the 
widow of Sir Colin Campbell of Lochow, who died about the year 1340. This 
lady was a daughter of the house of Lennox—many individuals of which are to be 
found mentioned in connection with the records of ancient Glasgow. 

The Hospital, along with a chapel attached to it, was situated at a short distance 
from the bridge ; and seems to have been, for a long period, the only building of any 
consequence which stood upon the south side of the river. Its establishment there, 
was naturally a drawback on the amenity of the neighbourhood, and may have prevented 
any great increase of settlers in that locality; so that, to form a mental picture of what 
was the appearance of Gorbals at about the period of the Reformation, the reader 
has but to recall to view the wide expanse of moor which once existed there, and to 
dot it, where it approached the bridge, on one hand with a few insignificant cottages, 
on the other, with the Leper’s Hospital, its chapel and enclosures, and to the south 
of all, with a number of antique-looking barns, which it is said had been there erected 
for the storage of the tithes, brought up in kind from the western divisions of the 
diocese.f 

After having been for a lengthened period in possession of the family of Argyle, 
the superiority or proprietorship of St. Ninian’s Croft would seem to have passed 


* Robert, Duke of Albany, third son of Robert II., was born about the year 1339.—Vide Douglas's Peerage. 

f Vide Brown's History, ii. 115. 


32 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


into the hands of the Church, as we find, according to M‘Ure, that the lands of 
“ Gorbels ” were (about 1578) disposed of by the Protestant Archbishop, Boyd, 
who then enjoyed the temporalities of the see, to a gentleman of the name of Elph- 
ingston, a merchant in Glasgow,'"* and a descendant of that individual—a younger 
son of the noble family of Elphingston—who is said to have settled in this city 
during the reign of James the First, and to have been amongst the earliest active 
promoters of the trade of Clyde .] From Mr. Elphingston the acquisition which he 
had made descended to his son George, afterwards known as Sir George Elphingston 
of Blythswood; and it is in connexion with his name that we have, in the first 
instance, to make allusion to what is called the Gorbals Baronial Hall. 

The history of Sir George Elphingston is rather a melancholy one, and his life 
presents us with the not unfrequent spectacle of a case, in which the favouring 
gales of fortune had long borne it along only to leave the bark of human hopes a 
stranded wreck at last. Of a respectable family, and born to the enjoyment of con¬ 
siderable opulence, he seems to have early occupied a high position in the favourable 
regards both of the King and of his fellow-citizens. From the one he received 
the honour of knighthood, and by the others he was, on several occasions, appointed 
Provost of the burgh. He was afterwards created a Lord of Session, and eventually, 
in the reign of Charles the First, was elevated to the dignity of Lord Justice Clerk. 

It was probably between the years 1600 and 1606, when his connexion with 
Glasgow seems to have been most intimate, that he resolved upon the erection of a 
residence on his property of St. Ninian’s Croft. With this view he inclosed part of 
the ground as an orchard or garden, and built a portion of those old houses which 
have only of late begun to disappear from the vicinity of the larger structure. 
Besides these buildings—fragments of a design, which he apparently never comjdeted 
—he likewise, we are given to understand, erected a small chapel adjoining. This 
chapel formed, latterly, a portion of the general pile, and a part of it still exists at 
the corner of Main Street and of “ Rutherglen Loan/’} 

After the enjoyment of much high preferment and success in life, a change in¬ 
vaded the fortunes of Sir George Elphingston, the causes of which we are unable to 
discover; suffice it to say, that he became so very poor, and so utterly deserted in 
his need, that when death at length closed his earthly career, his body is said to 
have been arrested by his creditors, and was only afforded the rites of decent 
sepulture through the instrumentality of a few friends, who had it privately interred. 


* According to some accounts, Mr. Elphingston acquired the property by marrying the prelate’s niece .—Vide Brown, 
i. 11G. 

f M‘Ure, p. 93, Edit. 1S30. 

J Wade says of Sir George, that “he is also understood to have built an ancient-looking fabric, called the Chapel, and 
said to have been dedicated to St. Ninian p. 231. 





















































BACK VIEW OF THE OTJD BAROMAL HALL, GOBBALS, 
EXISTING US 13*6. 
















































































































OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


33 


according to M'Ure, “in his own chapel adjoining to his house.”* If it be the 
case that the remains of Sir George Elphingston still repose in that locality, let us 
hope that, amid the destruction which seems to threaten the entire pile of buildings, 
erected by him and his successors, there will be some one at hand to see that there 
be no rude desecration of his grave, and that his bones be decently transferred to 
another place of rest. 

On the death of Sir George Elphingston, the property in St. Ninian’s Croft was 
sold by his creditors to Robert Douglas, Viscount Belhaven, f a descendant of the 
family of Morton. This nobleman seems early to have resolved on completing what 
his predecessor had left unfinished, and he in consequence made great additions to the 
Mansion in Gorbals, giving, what, for the period, might he called an imposing- 
appearance to the whole, by the erection of the quadrangular Tower—a principal 
object in both of our views—and, it may be, of the portion adjoining, which connected 
it with the Chapel. Until within these few years the Tower in question was terminated 
by four turrets, which added considerably to its architectural effect; at present, the 
bases on which these turrets rested, alone remain. On the front of the building, to the 
west of the Tower, may still be seen the family arms of Viscount Belhaven, tolerably 
well cut in stone, and exhibiting, covered by modern gilding, the well-known cog¬ 
nizance of the Douglases—the Heart surmounted by a Crown—and above it, “ in 
chief” of the shield, the figure of a bird, or “ martlet, close,” placed between two 
stars. On the top of the whole appear the initials S. G. E., apparently meant for 
those of Sir George Elphingston. These may possibly indicate that the portion of 
the edifice on which they appear had been erected by him; if so, the arms referred 
to must have been transferred to their present position, from perhaps some part of 
the tower, and at a comparatively recent date. { 

This nobleman, dying without issue, was succeeded in his estates by his nephew. 
Sir Robert Douglas of Blackerston, who, about the year 1650, sold the entire 
Barony, with the Lepers’ Hospital and grounds once set apart for its support, to a 

* He died about the year 1634. It was in his favour that the village of Gorbals was erected into a Burgh of Barony and 
Regality. It was probably to Sir George Elphingston’s father, who seems to have been the purchaser of Blythswood, that the 
following curious notice refers, under date of January 8, 1579-80. 

“ The whilk dayo, George Ilerbertsoun, is fund and decernit, be probatioun of famous witnes, in ye wrang, for ye iniuring 
and dispersoning of George Elphinstoun, ane of ye bailzies of Glasgw, in cuming him to him on ye hie gait y*' of, and saying, 
how he durst be sa part [ready] to deill ony vynes w* out his avyse, and incontinent yaireftir, for drawing of ane quhinger 
[hanger or sword], and mytene [threatening ?] yairwiyt to ye said baillie, and yaireftir madiatlie for iniuring of ye said George, 
bailie, wt in ye tolbuyt 0 f Glasgw, geveand to him mony iniurious words, sick as naif, skaybell [worthless fellow], matteyne, 
and lowne, and that lie was gentillar nor hie, haveand his hand on his quhinger, ruggand it halflines in and out, and yat he 
carit him not, nor ye land yat he had nowther,” &c.—Vide Burgh Records of the City, (Maitland Club,) p. 119. In 15 to, 
we find “ George Elphinstoun of Blytisuod ” mentioned.— Ibid. p. 45. 

f Sir Robert Douglas of Spott, Haddingtonshire, was Page of Honour, and afterwards Master of the Horse, to Henry, 
Prince of Wales, the promising son of James VI. He was subsequently Gentleman of the Bedchamber, both to James and to 
Charles I., and was created Viscount Belhaven in 1633. He was latterly blind, and died in 1639.—Vide Douglas’s Peerage. 

I The reader will find in the last plate of the present series (Fig. 4) a representation of the Coat ot Anns referred to. 

I 


34 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


sort of copartnery, which was entered into for the purchase, by the town of Glasgow, 
the Trades’ House, and the Trustees of Hutchesons’ Hospital. In the volume 
of Memorabilia already referred to, we find, under date of 5th February, 1648, 
that mention was made at a meeting of the Council, of “ ane bargane the towne 
micht halve of the Gorballs ” when it was “ thocht expedient that thair be Corn- 
missionaries chosin to go eist to buy the same.” * These Commissioners were pro¬ 
vided with full power to conclude a bargain, the “ moneys ” ol Hutcheson’s Hos¬ 
pital to be made use of in part payment of the purchase, and it is probable that the 
business was soon afterwards brought to a close. From an entry, however, in the 
Burgh Records, f it would appear that the suburb of Gorbals was not formally annexed 
to the city till the year 1661. At this period it was ordained that some “ Constables 
be choysen there for keiping of good ordorbut that no “ Baillies ” should be ap¬ 
pointed among the residents on the south bank of the Clyde. To conclude with this 
brief notice of the history of Gorbals, this suburb remained till 1790 under the joint 
superiority of the three bodies previously mentioned. At the epoch in question a 
division of the territory was effected, and the central portion came into the possession 
of the town, under which it remained in a species of feudal dependence, till the spirit 
of resistless change stalked forth in recent times and “ set the bondman free.” 

We need not, however, have entered on such particulars, had not the various 
changes which have occurred in that locality been the means of materially affecting 
the fortunes of the building which forms the proper subject of these cursory remarks. 
With the sale effected by Sir Robert Douglas, the state and consequence of his pre¬ 
decessor’s mansion-house must have greatly declined. As the property of a gentle¬ 
man of distinction—whether occupied by him or not, it held a position among its 
compeers which necessarily commanded a certain measure of respect ; but as an 
acquisition of the civic authorities—perhaps the least promising item of their “bar¬ 
gain ”—a mighty change was upon it; for who could tell to what base uses the halls 
of departed rank might, from economical motives, be consigned. The building may, 
however, have long remained unoccupied, as, most probably, it would not have 
proved a suitable or desirable “retreat” for any of the “merchant princes” of 
Glasgow, if such there were at the time. 

The next allusion to it that we have happened to meet with, occurs under date 
of 18th July 1670, when—and mark the singularity of the terms—the Bailies and 
Council “ ordains ane tack to be wrytten and subscryvit in favors of Sir James 
Turnor, of the tounes houss and tour in Gorballs, quhilk lie presentlie possesses, 

* P. 164.—In Sir R. Douglas’s Charter of Alienation in favour of the authorities of the city, mention is made of the 
lands of “Gorbals and Brigend,” with “Coals and Coal hewghs,” &c., and the “towr, fortaleice, maner, place, houses, 
bigins, yeards, and orchards.”—Vide M'Ure, Edit. 1830, p. 54, (note.) 

f Memorabilia, p. 232. 









I 















VIEW FROM THE WTNHTVnLL CROFELOOKOTG EASTWARD 

FROM A DRAWTNGJ3XECUTEB ABOUT VJ60. 


































































.• 


. 

• 



• 






























OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


and that dureing his lyfetyme, for payment yearlie of thrie punds Scots, if the samyne 
he requyred.” •' The date of this very accommodating document carries us back 
to the days of Charles the Second, at a period when the spirit of persecution was 
rampant in the north. Sir James Turner was commander of the forces in Scotland, 
and, it may be supposed, was a person of sufficient importance to render the prof¬ 
fered free possession—as it really was—of “ the tounes houss ” in Gorbals, a wisely 
conciliatory act on the part of the authorities, who had certainly at that time much 
cause for “ fear and trembling,” lest any outbreak should occur from the bitter 
hostility to all spiritual subjection which existed among the people in and around the 
city. How long the building continued to be occupied by Sir James Turner we 
cannot say. In later times, one part of it was converted into a school-house, and 
another into a prison ; while still more recently the remains of the little chapel have 
been made use of as a place of public meeting by the inhabitants of Gorbals. 

Placed, as it is, in a now densely crowded, and anything but attractive locality, 
this old baronial mansion is but rarely visited by the stranger; and indeed it has, of 
late years, been so denuded of most of the traces of its former importance, that, 
at the present day, its appearance will probably rather disappoint than otherwise, the 
determined adventurer who threads his way among the kennels of Main Street to bestow 
one inquisitive glance upon its time-shadowed walls ;—for there, no “ drooping bough 
or mantling ivy green ” adorn and half conceal the progress of decay. With the 
garden and orchard which once flourished around it, every trace of nature’s vitality 
has disappeared, and the old house now raises its arid walls in the noxious atmo¬ 
sphere of a mean and crowded district. 


THE MERCHANTS' HALL. 

T HE incorporation known as the “ Merchants’ House ” may be said to have had 
its origin in the year 1605, when, in consequence of some disputes between the 
craftsmen of the city and those of their fellow-townsmen who aspired to the title of 
“ merchant venturers,” the proper position of each party was, by mutual consent, 
authoritatively defined, and what is called the “ Letter of Guildry ” was promulgated 
as the Charter of the Merchant rank. This agreement was confirmed by parliament 
in 1612, and thus, being duly united, and raised to an ostensible and highly respect- 


* Memorabilia, p. 288. 




36 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


able position, the burgesses of Glasgow who traded beyond seas, soon formed a very 
important body—their incorporation becoming powerful in influence, and in the means, 
through a fund established for the purpose—aided by donations and legacies—of dis¬ 
seminating relief to such of their number as had experienced the reverses of fortune. 

That the progress of the Merchants’ House in wealth and consideration was 
somewhat rapid, may be inferred from the circumstance, that within fifty years of the 
time of its establishment, the members of this association possessed, collectively or 
individually, the spirit and the means required to enable them to proceed with the 
erection of such a building as that which forms the subject of our notice. Viewed in 
connexion with the period of its foundation, and with the then comparatively small 
numerical importance of the population, this certainly formed, while it existed, a 
striking monument of the liberal and expanded views which, so long ago as during 
the protectorate of Cromwell, had animated the merchant burgesses of the “ goodly 
city ” of Glasgow. 

Designs for the structure having been procured from Sir William Bruce of 
Kinross—at an after period architect to Charles II.—the building was commenced 
in 1651, and was finished in 1659. The steeple, however, was not completed till a 
somewhat later period, as appears from some of the entries to be found in the Records 
of the Burgh. The years which went past while the Merchants’ Hall was rising 
into existence by the waters of Clyde, were years of much importance to the com¬ 
mercial interests of the nation, and the peculiar features of the time seemed to fore¬ 
shadow a future of great promise to the trading energies of the people. Under the 
resolute measures of Cromwell, seconded as they were by such a man as Blake, the 
flag of England had become respected in a high degree over all the civilized world, 
and the openings which, in consequence, presented themselves to her commercial en- 
terprize, were considerably augmented ; while the presence of increased security in 
the navigation of the seas gave animation to the progress of adventure, by adding 
to the prospects of success. That the traders of Glasgow were not slow in availing 
themselves of whatever lay open to their grasp, favourable to an increase of their yet 
infant connexion with other countries, we may well believe; and, doubtless, there 
were many occasions, while their handsome hall was in course of erection, when its 
proprietors had reason to congratulate each other on the improved prospects held 
forth by some heavy blow inflicted, perhaps on the pride of the Hollander or 
Spaniard, or by the destruction of some of the pirate hordes which then infested 
the great highway of nations. 

Many years have elapsed since the building was demolished, but the reader will 
be enabled to form, from the accompanying plate, a pretty accurate idea of the 
general appearance it bore. Standing, with its ornamental front, upon the line of 
the Bridgegate, when that street was graced by some of the most notable mansions 


OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


37 


in the city, and backed by the really handsome spire which towered above its 
roof, the old Merchants’ Hall must have made no despicable appearance in its day, 
and was probably boasted of by the inhabitants as not to be surpassed by any 
structure of a similar character from the Sands of the Solway to John o’Groat’s. 
From M‘Ure, we learn that the building was seventy-two feet in length, that the 
entrance in front was “ very fine and splendid,” and that above it were placed the 
figures of three old men “ resembling the decayed members of the merchant rank, 
and a ship with full sails, with the arms of the city, all purely cut out of free-stone.” 
Denholm’s description, published in 1804, states that the edifice consisted of “ two 
stories of ashler work,” the lowest, or ground flat, on each side, being occupied as 
shops, and the upper floor containing a range of large windows,'”' with triangular 
pediments, which gave light to the Hall. “ On each side of the principal entry from 
the street,” he adds, “ are two doric pillars, with an ornamental entablature, and, 
immediately above, two columns of the Ionic order inclose a sculpture in has relief, 
representing a vessel, and in another compartment, three old men in the habit of 
pilgrims.” As to the interior, he says, that “ after passing through the lobby, and 
ascending the staircase, you enter into the Hall—one of the largest in the city, being 
about eighty feet in length, and near thirty wide.” In this place of meeting was 
hung up a list of the Deans of Guild, dating from the year 1605, besides several 
portraits of benefactors to the poor of the Merchants’ House, and a long catalogue 
of others whose names were worthy of commemoration as donors to the funds of the 
institution. This hall, we are also given to understand, was “ exceedingly well 
lighted,” and at its centre there hung pendant from the ceiling the “ large and 
beautiful model of a ship, with her whole tackling.”—What, with one ship over 
the doorway, another suspended in the hall, and a third facing the breezes of 
heaven—let them blow as they list—from the topmost pinnacle of the spire, we have 
pretty strong evidence of the great degree of interest with which the merchants of 
Glasgow had looked towards the ocean and its paths of commercial adventure, 
while the star of Cromwell was yet in the ascendant, or while the reign of the second 
Charles had but recently begun. 

Immediately under the two compartments occupied by the sculptures above 
noticed, there was placed an inscription in Greek and Latin, | indicating the date 

* M‘Ure says, “ fourteen chess windows.” 

t Thus given by M‘Ure—the reading of Denholm is somewhat different:— 

“ AnOPEMnOAOXEION hoc, civitatis Glasguanse mercatorum, pia liberalitate et impensis fundatum, JErx vulgaris 
cioiocli. Denuo munificentia reasdificatum, auctum, et ornatum est cioiaclix. 

Mutuat Jehovse, qui largitur pauperi; 

Et retributionem illius reddet ei.” 

Or, in the language of the Proverbs— 

“ lie that hath pity upon the poor, lendeth unto the Lord ; 
and that which he hath given, will he pay him again.” 

K 


38 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


when the building was commenced, and likewise that at which it was completed; 
and conveying the information that it had been founded by the merchant citizens of 
Glasgow, with—as it may be read—the most pious liberality of feeling, and a due 
indifference as to expense. In addition to the various lists of benefactors before- 
mentioned, there was likewise suspended in the Hall, a painted board, on which were 
inscribed, in quotations from Scripture, a number of directions, expressive of the 
principles on which the trader might buy and sell with a safe conscience. This 
was, indeed, quite in keeping with the character of the times, and was in every 
respect appropriate to the place—reminding the merchant burgesses in all their public 
assemblies, that, even as regarded the daily avocations of their worldly career, the 
words of guidance were to be found in the sacred charter of their faith. 

With regard to the two pieces of sculpture which stood over the principal en¬ 
trance in Bridgegate, it may be mentioned, that they are still preserved, and may be 
inspected by the curious, in the present Merchants’ Hall, Hutcheson Street. In the 
last plate of the volume, the reader will find a faithful representation of these stones 
—the one bearing its “ stately bark,” with sails widely distended by the favouring 
gale ; the other its three bearded “ pilgrims,” apparently bending beneath the weight 
of penury and years. 

In the selections from the Minute Books of the Burgh, to which we have already 
referred, there appear various notices of the old Merchants’ Hall and its spire, which, 
to the local antiquary, possess considerable interest. Amongst the earliest of these 
is an entry under date of 10th November, 1660, from which it appears that the 
erection of the Hall itself had absorbed all the funds which were contributed for 
the purpose, and that the steeple was in danger of being left in an unfinished state, 
unless some means could be found of providing for the expense of its construction. 
Under these circumstances, the Magistrates and Council—taking into consideration 
that the said steeple would prove “ far moir profitabill to the toune than to the 
Hospital”—resolved to give their aid to the advancement of the undertaking, and 
accordingly voted sundry balances, of “ excys ” and “ bukit ” money, as well as some 
remaining proceeds resulting from the sale, apparently, of a house in “ Evandaill,” in 
order that the “ shame and disgrace ” might be avoided, of having the promising spire 
in Bridgegate arrested in its heavenward ascent.* The undertaking does not seem, 
however, to have proceeded with any great celerity, as we find that the steeple was 
still in course of erection in February, 1663 ; when the Dean of Guild and the 
Deacon Convener are mentioned in the Council Records as having been recommended 
to (< provyd for ane knock and ane paill of belles to be put in the steiple now in 
building in the Briggaitwhile, at the same time, it was ordained that “ the tounes 
armes be fixeit on the belles.” 


* Memorabilia, p. 215. 


OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


39 


By some two years later, the edifice appears to have been at length completed. 
At this period the temper of the authorities would seem to have been sadly tried 
in the matter of that very important adjunct, the clock. In their minute of De¬ 
cember 9tli, 1665, it is stated that “ the Baillies and Counsell, taking to their 
consideratioune how the toune lies been slightit be Jon. Brodbreidge in not performing 
his ingadgment in relatioune to the perfecting the knock in Briggait, It is concluded 
that he be seased upon by the Magistrats, and compellit to performe tlieis his in- 
gadgments; and as for the chymes he wes to mak there, for sundrie guid reasones it 
is concludit that the samyne chymes be maid and put up in the stiple of the tolbuitli.” 
In the end “ Borbreidge,” as he is subsequently designated, would appear to have 
been concussed into the fulfilment of his contract, as, from the treasurer’s accounts, 
we learn that in 1668, he received the sum of 312 pounds Scots “ in compleat pay¬ 
ment of his making of the knock in Briggait, and chymes in the tolbuitli, and uthir 
wark.” The last of these notices of the building with which we shall detain the 
reader, is sufficiently curious, from the minuteness of its details —exempli gratia 
(4th October, 1736)—“ordain Robert Cross, theasaurer, to pay to Robt. Fulton, 
coppersmith, <£2 » 3 » 2, for making a new jack pinnet,'* and new ensign, raising 
the main mast and fore mast, and making a new rudder, and other reparations on the 
ship on the Bridgegate steeple.” The “ ship ” in question is one of the minor objects 
of public notoriety familiar to most of those who have been nurtured in Glasgow, and 
the mere allusion to its existence may awaken to many, recollections which recall 
the morning feelings of other days—yet, until meeting with the preceding extract, 
few, we dare to say, would have imagined that the object of their juvenile interest 
was of such notable and approved construction, that each individual mast had at 
one time been thought worthy of public attention, and that the very rudder itself 
had found “ honourable mention ” in the public Records of the City ! f 

From the period of its erection till within the last forty years, the Merchants’ 
Hall continued to serve the purposes for which it was originally designed. Even¬ 
tually, however, owing to its position in a part of the city that was being gradually 
abandoned to its present fallen condition, and to other causes, its demolition was 
resolved upon, and the edifice, along with some adjacent ground, was, in consequence, 
disposed of, in the year 1816 or 1817, to parties who soon afterwards had it taken 
down, and other buildings reared upon its site. But with patriotic care was the ad¬ 
joining spire saved from the hands of the destroyer, and on the spot whence it has for 
so long a period looked down upon the increasing city, it still remains—not now, 

* Pennon. • 

f It may be here mentioned, that the dwelling-house of Mr. Aird, who was Provost at various times from the year 1705 to 
1722, stood opposite the Merchants’ Hall, having one front to the Bridgegate and another to the Goosedubs, formerly (and in 
all truth, more happily) called Aird’s Wynd.— Cleland's Stat. Tables, fyc., 1823, p. 180. 


40 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


it is true, environed by the very best of company ; but still, in itself, a landmark 
of other days, which, if stone and lime could be imagined to indulge in such 
freaks, might well laugh at the objects which have in modern times been graciously 
favoured with the appellation of “ steeples.” On the sale of their Hall, the Mer¬ 
chants’ House—not, perhaps, altogether forgetful of ancient liberality on the part of 
the civic authorities—came to the resolution of transferring to the citizens generally 
the proprietorship of its spire ; at the present day, therefore, it constitutes one of the 
items in the list of our civic possessions ; and the above is, probably, the first instance 
on record in which it ever fell to the lot of a body of merchants to indulge in the 
“ presentation ” of so stately a gift. 

To the south of the Merchants’ Hall, and occupying the ground now covered in 
part by the pile of building called Guildry Court, there existed, in former times, a 
flower garden, which was surrounded by a high and substantial wall. Many of the 
dwelling-houses around had, no doubt, similar appendages; and we may be certain 
that, at a distance of time much less than a hundred and fifty years, the entire 
neighbourhood of Stockwell Street and Bridgegate was enlivened by the presence of 
various garden inclosures, and by the waving branches of many a “ leafy bower,” 
which, although partly hidden from the street in front, caught, in the background, the 
eye of the more distant observer, and fixed his admiration upon the pleasing amenity 
of the scene. 

It may, finally, be observed, on the authority of Dr. Cleland, that prior to the 
year 1740, the dancing assemblies of the citizens were held in the Merchants’ Hall; 
which assemblies seem to have been of rather more frequent occurrence than might 
have been expected from the sedate and somewhat severe character of the times. 
A great deal may be done, however, to change the aspect of affairs with the wives 
and daughters of a mercantile community, when any rara avis from amid the ranks 
of the aristocracy happens to alight amongst them ; and when it is known that 
the once noted Duchess of Douglas had condescended to be a frequent leader of 
the dance in the “ Briggate” of Glasgow, it is possible enough that the usual 
sobriety of its worthy dames had been somewhat unhinged, and that, in consequence, 
the sounds of revelry and mirth were, on many an occasion, to be met with there. 




OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


41 


THE BROOMIELAW, FROM THE WINDMILL CROFT. 

THE view which appears on the same sheet with that of the Merchants’ Hall is 
copied from a somewhat homely engraving, executed, it is believed, about the 
} eai 1/60, and affords a curious picture of the aspect of our harbour in that early 
stage of its existence, when, as yet, it was only visited by the fisherman’s wherry, or 
by the humble trading vessels, which now and then made their appearance, freighted 
with domestic produce, from the coast of Ireland or the Western Isles. 

The original drawing has been taken from a point not very distant from where 
the Glasgow Bridge now opens into Eglinton Street; the ground in that locality 
being, till within the last forty or fifty years, a rough uncultivated waste—broken, 
where it approached the river, into numerous hollows and indentations, which had 
been formed by the winter currents along the soft and crumbling banks. To the 
right of the plate may be seen the remains of an ancient tower, said to have been 
part of a windmill, erected by Sir George Elphingston about the beginning of the 
seventeenth century, for the accommodation of his tenantry upon the neighbouring 
lands, and from which the adjoining common received the name of the Windmill 
Croft. Farther on is the Old Bridge, till within the last eighty years the only one 
which spanned the waters of the lower Clyde. It terminates upon the north, in what 
seems to have been a remaining portion of the Water Port, and near which may be 
observed successively approaching the eye, the indistinct outline of Allan Dreghorn’s 
house—to be afterwards more particularly mentioned—a mansion of somewhat 
similar appearance which formerly stood beside it, the Old Town’s Hospital, and 
nearer still, the trees of the favourite promenade called the “ Dovecote Green.” On 
the left appear a few detached houses, some of which were removed to allow of the for¬ 
mation of Jamaica Street, and, prominent above all, rises the old bottle-work cone— 
a building erected in 1730, and the predecessor of that which was removed from the 
same spot about fifteen years ago. 

The formation of the original quay in 1662,' ;: ‘ with its “ weigh-house,” fountain, and 
“ cran,” was, probably, the first innovation which materially changed the old rustic 
appearance of the Broomielaw. The subsequent erection of the bottle-work made, 
no doubt, another alteration of some consequence ; but the greatest change of all took 
place between the years 1767 and 1773, when the first Jamaica-street Bridge was 
carried across the stream. Five or six centuries ago, the place, as the name would 
lead us to suppose, was, in all probability, an open common—marked by some 
trifling rise of the surface now indistinguishable, on which waved, in more than 
common luxuriance, the golden blossoms of the broom. By the time of James the 

* On 24th July, 1G62, it is ordained that “ ane litle key ” should be constructed at the Broomielaw.— Memorabilia, p. 239. 


42 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


Fifth, however, or even earlier, the lands at the Broomielaw would seem to have 
been in some measure cultivated, and to have been subdivided amongst a number of 
proprietors. In the curious documents which had belonged of old to the Collegiate 
Church of St. Mary and St. Ann, there is frequent mention made of the “ terrw 
campestris,” the field-lands of the “ Brumelaw,” and as often do we meet with 
the names of various individuals who are taken notice of as proprietors of certain 
particular portions of the ground.*' How far this condition of things had been en¬ 
croached upon before the city authorities determined on the erection of a quay, it 
is now difficult to say; it may be justly inferred, however, that down to the period 
of the Restoration, the Broomielaw was a very rural spot—marked, perhaps, with a 
few cottages, and bounded on the north by some of the malt barns which probably 
stood, even thus far to the westward, on the road to Dumbarton. 

When the merchants of Glasgow were landing their imports on the coast of 
Ayrshire, and never dreaming of any nearer approach for their vessels than Dum¬ 
barton or Newark, it may readily be supposed that the accommodation of the small 
craft which came up to the city was a matter of no great consideration. In reality, 
the influx of boats at the Broomielaw was probably so trifling, and the idea 
of disbursing money for their accommodation was so long of being entertained, that, 
prior to the reign of Charles the Second, the place may scarcely have deserved the 
name of a harbour at all. f The quay erected in 1662-63 \ appears to have been of 
stone, faced with beams of wood, and extended from St. Enoch’s Burn, nearly 
opposite the present Custom-House, to a short distance below the site of the present 
Bridge. This undertaking appears to have been looked upon as of considerable 


* These documents have been lately printed for the Maitland Club, under the able editoi’ship of Joseph Robertson, Esq. 
We have already inferred to the volume which is entitled “Liber Collegii Nostre Demine Registrum Ecclesie B. V. Marie et 
S. Anne,” &c.; and, amongst many other notices, relating to our subject, contained in its pages, may be particularized the 
following, which all have reference to the possessions with which the different prebends of “ our Lady College” were endowed, 
viz.:— 

“ vna acra terre cum dimedia jacente in Brvmelaw inter terras vicariorum chori Glasguensis ex orientali et. terras quondam 
Dauid Menteith ex occidental!,” <fcc. (p. 28.) 

“ vna riga terre jacens in Brvmelaw,” &c. (p. 37.) 

“ vnam rigam terre campestris jacentem in Brvmelaw,” &c., with other pieces of ground situated “ in eadem crofta,” (p. 42.) 
‘ * tway riggis of land liand in the Brvmelaw betwix the lands of Schir Martyn Reid on the west part and the landis of George 
Colquhone on the eist.” 

But the most curious notice of all, as dating in every probability from the time of James the Third, or Fourth, appears 
among the Muniments of the Blackfriars, printed in the same volume. In this, John of Govan, a burgess of Glasgow, gives to 

the Prior and Brethren “ conuentus ordinis Predicatoruru de Glasgv ” .“ septem rigga iacentia in campo de Bromilaw 

inter terrarum domini Walteri de Roule,” &c. etc., and, besides, he bestows another “ rigg” adjoining ; which eight riggs were, 
at the date of the instrument, possessed by “ Martin Sutor,” at the rental of five shillings sterling, (quinque solidos sterlyng- 
orum) per annum. (P. 156, and Preface, xliv.) 

f In 1660 the river above that point was so shallow, that it was usual to have coals shipped at “ Meikle Govan.”— 
Memorabilia, p. 204. 

J Dr. Cleland inadvertently states that the first quay at the Broomielaw was not built till after the Revolution of 1688.— 
( Vide his Statistics, folio, 1832, p. 153.) 



OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


43 


importance by the authorities of the day. In the Records of the Burgh, under date 
of the 23d May, 1663, there is an entry in which the Provost, senior Bailie, Dean 
of Guild, and Deacon Convener, are recommended “ to have ane cair of the new 
key now building at the Broomelaw a fortnight afterwards it was ordered, that 
a “ way hois ” (weigh-house) should be built near it, and that the back of the quay 
should be filled up with sand—the “ masters of families ” being called upon to send 
their servants to assist in the work. ' - In 1722, an addition appears to have been 
made to the original wharf, as, in the Records of that year, it is stated that masons 
had been agreed with to furnish stones for, and to build the “ key/’ from the Broom- 
ielaw to the “ Dowcat Green, j In 1792, a second extension of the harbour was 
effected, and in 1811, a third; since which period it has been gradually advancing to 
its present size and importance. 

With regard to the trade and shipping of Glasgow about the middle of the 
seventeenth century, we think the following account deserves a wider circulation than 
it has yet received. It is extracted from a report, dated in 1656, and drawn up by 
Thomas Tucker, a person appointed in Cromwell’s time to act as supervisor of the 
customs and excise in Scotland. The document is addressed to the “ Right Honour¬ 
able the Commissioners of Appeals,” and a copy of it is preserved in the Advocates’ 
Library, Edinburgh:— 

“ Glasgow, a very neate burghe towne, lying upon the bankes of the river Cluyde, 
which riseing in Annandale runns by Glasgow and Kirkpatrick, disburthening itself 
into the frith of Dunbarton. This towne, seated in a pleasant and fruitful soil, and 
consisting of foure streets, handsomely built in forme of a cross, is one of the most 
considerablest burghs of Scotland, as well for the structure as trade of it. The in¬ 
habitants all, but the students of the college which is here, are traders and dealers. 
Some for Ireland with small smiddy coales in open boates from foure to ten tonnes, 
from whence they bring hoops, ronges, barrell-staves, meal, oats, and butter. Some 
for France, with pladding, coales and hering, (of which there is great fishing yearly 
in the western sea) for which they return saltpetre, rozin, and prunes. Some to 
Norway, for timber, and every one with theyr neighbours the Highlanders, who come 
from the isles and western parts in summer, by the Mul of Can tyre, and in winter 
by the Tarbon ( Tarbat) to the head of Loquh-fyne, (which is a small neck of land 
over which they usually draw theyr small boates into the frith of Dunbarton) and so 
passe up into the Cluyde with pladding, dry hides, goate, kid, and deere skins, which 

* Another notice on this subject appears under date of June 13, 1663, in which it is ordered that the “ key ” be “ heightit 
twa stones heigher nor it was ordained to be of befor,” and the Dean of Guild is desired “ to try for raoir oakin timber in the 
Hie Kirk,” &c. “ for facing thereof.—Vide Memorabilia, p. 246. 

f Ibid, p. 472. 


44 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


they sell, and purchase with theyr price such comodityes and provisions as they stand 
in neede of from time to time. Here hath likewise been some who have ventured as 
farre as the Barbadoes, but the losse they have sustained by reason of theyre going 
out and coming home late every year, have made them discontinue going thither any 
more. The situation of this towne in a plentiful land, and the mercantile genius of 
the people, are strong signes of her increase and growetli, were she not chequed and 
kept under by the shallowness of her river, every day mineasing and filling up, soe 
that noe vessels of any burden can come nearer up than within fourteen miles where 
they must unlade, and send up theyr timber and Norway trade in raftes on floates, 
and all other comodites by three or foure tons of goods at a time in small cobbles, 
or boates of three, four, five, and none above six tonnes a boate. There is in this 
port a collector, a cheque, and four wayters, who at this place, Renfrew , Arskin on 
the south, and Kirpatrick on the north side of the Cluyde, with Dunbarton , a small 
and very poor burgh at the head of the frith. The former of these are inhabited 
with fishermen that make hering, and trade for Ireland with open boates, and the 
latter gives shelter sometimes to a vessel of 16 tons or thereabouts, comming from 
England or Ireland with corne. 

“ The number of ports of this district are, 1st, Newarke, a small place where 
there are (besides the laird’s house of the place) some foure or five houses, but 
before them a pretty goode roade where all vessells doe ride, unlade, and send theyr 
goodes up the river to Glasgow in small boats, and at this place there is a wayter 
constantly attending. 2d, Greenock , such another, only the inhabitants are more, 
but all seamen or fishermen, trading for Ireland or the Isles in open boates. Att 
which place there is a mole, or peere, where vessells in stresse of weather may ride 
and shelter themselves before they passe up to Newarke, and here likewise is another 
wayter. 3d, Fairley , Calburyh (Kelburne ?) Saltcoates, slioares only for roade 
withe a few houses, the inhabitants fishermen, who carry fish and cattell for Ireland, 
bringing home corn and butter for theyr own use and expence. A wayter extraor¬ 
dinary here takes care of these places, and advertises the head-port when any thing 
comes thither. 4th, Bute, a small island being in the mouth of the frith, under 
which some vessells in stormy weather shelter themselves, but pass afterwards up 
the river. The inhabitants are all countymen and cow-lieards, and make some 
woollen cloth which is carryed to bee dyed and dressed at Glasgow, where they buy 
still whatever they have occasion of for theyr expence and provision. And, lastly, 
Irvyn , a small burgh towne, lying at the mouth of a river of the same name, which 
hath sometime been a pretty small port, but at present clogged and allmost clioaked 
up with sand, which the western sea beats into it soe as it wrestles for life to 
maintain a small trade to France, Norway, and Ireland, with hering and other 
goods brought on horseback from Glasgow, for the purchasing, timber, and wine, 


OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


45 


and other comodites to supply their ocasions with. The vessells belonging to this 
district are, 


3 of 

150 tons. 

1 ... 

140 ... 

to 

100 ... 

1... 

50 ... 

3 ... 

30 ... 

1 ... 

15 ... 

1 ... 

12 ... 


Renfrew, 3 or 4 boates of 5 or 6 tons a piece. 
Irvin, 3 or 4, tbe biggest not exceeding 16 tons.” 


The following remarks upon Tucker’s Report, published some years since, are 
well worthy of being reprinted :—• 

“ This report gives a more accurate account of the Trade and Shipping of Glasgow 
than any document which we have seen relating to the early period when it was 
drawn up. The progress of improvement after this was rapid, as we find that instead 
of the 12 vessels carrying 957 tons in 1656, Glasgow had 66 vessels in 1692. The 
very small number of vessels belonging to the other ports on the West coast, gives a 
melancholy picture of the poverty of this country at that time. It will be seen that 
Dumbarton and Greenock had no vessels except small open boats, engaged chiefly 
in fishing. Newark appears to have been well known and frequented as a harbour 
before it was purchased and improved by the people of Glasgow in 1668. 

(t One of the great impediments to our trade was the shallowness of the Clyde, 
which was intersected by numerous islands, fords, and sand-banks. In a map pub¬ 
lished in Bleau’s Theatrum &'cotice in 1654, there appear no less than six islands 
between the bridge of Glasgow and the mouth of the Cart. These were:—1st, a 
small isle a little below the bridge. 2d, Water Inch, at the mouth of the Kelvin; 
the north channel was filled up, but still visible. 3d, White Inch; this was a large 
isle, and the name is still retained by a farm on the north side of the river ; the north 
channel was filled up, but is still visible in some places. 4th, Buck Inch, a little 
lower than the former. 5th, King’s Inch, a large isle; it is now on the south side 
of the river. Upon this isle stood the Inch castle, the property of the family of 
Ross ; the castle was demolished by Mr. Spiers about the year 1777, and in its 
neighbourhood he built a large house. A little farther west, but on the main land, 
and adjoining the town, stood the castle of Renfrew, built by Walter, the son of Alan 
the first Stewart, about the year 1170. The castle was demolished more than a 
hundred years ago, but the ruins are still visible and retain the name of Castle Hill. 
Crawfurd, who wrote in 1710, says—‘ This castle was situate on a pretty rising 

M 





46 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


ground called the Castle Hill, upon the brink of the river Clyde ; from whence there 
has been a very agreeable prospect of the country many miles distant every way, and 
surrounded by a deep fosse.’ The south channel of the river, which passed close by 
the town of Renfrew, having been closed up, Castle Hill now stands at a considerable 
distance from the Clyde. The lands of Castle Hill now belong to Mrs. Brock, who 
lately (1831) built a house a few yards north of the site of the old castle. 6th, 
Sand Inch; this isle lay contiguous to, and immediately to the west of King’s Inch; 
a part of the south channel still appears behind, and to the west of the new ferry- 
house, which stands near the east end of the isle. The ground here has undergone 
considerable changes in consequence of the ferry having been moved west from 
Blawartliill to its present situation, and a canal cut in 1786 from the south channel 
of the Clyde to Renfrew. 

“ It appears that about the year 1600, or soon after, the magistrates and com¬ 
munity of this city had laboured to improve the navigation of the river. In 1633 
the Act of parliament in favour of Glasgow, states the ‘great charges and expenss 
that the provost, baillies, &c. lies sustenit tliir many yeirs bygane, in making of the 
river Clyde portable for shippes, boattes, barkes, and other veshels for importing and 
exporting of forraine and hameward comodities.’ For all the great charges incurred 
by the worthy magistrates, we find by Tucker’s account that only small vessels 
carrying from 3 to 6 tons, could get up to Glasgow in 1656. The river continued in 
nearly the same condition till the year 1770, as we find by the report of James Watt, 
Oct. 20, 1769, that the Hirst, a shoal extending from the Broomielaw to the Brewery 
Quay at Anderston, had only 1 foot 3 inches depth of water at ebb tide, and 3 feet 
3 inches at high water. In 1770, Mr. Golborne of Chester began to deepen the 
river from the lower end of Dumbuck Ford to the Broomielaw. This undertaking 
was finished in 1775, when the river was sounded and found to be 7 feet deep. The 
Dumbuck Ford extended 600 yards up and down the river, and the Hirst was a quarter 
of a mile in length, according to Watt’s report in 1769.”* 

To the above extracts we have nothing of material interest to add. It may, 
however, be observed, that the Bottle-work, or Glass-house, as it was called, seems 
to have been a doubtful speculation for some time after its establishment. The 
principal, if not only, articles produced, were common green glass bottles, and for 
these the demand was originally so limited, that the workmen engaged in their 
manufacture were only employed for some four months in the year.f 


* These extracts are taken from a periodical work entitled the Literary Rambler, published at Glasgow in 1832. 
f Cleland’s Annals, 1816, vol. ii. p. 371. 



OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


47 


At the time when the preceding observations were about to be put into the 
piintei s hands, a discovery was made, in the neighbourhood of the Broomielaw, 
well calculated to fill the mind with speculations upon the condition and appearance 
of that locality at a jDeriod so remote, that the times we have just been referring to 
appear, in comparison, to be removed but a very insignificant distance from our own. 
We allude to the disinterment, by the workmen engaged in enlarging the harbour at 
Springfield, of an ancient canoe, which had been imbedded 17 feet in the sandy soil, 
and at the distance of about three hundred from the present margin of the stream. 

This relic of a very primitive age in the history of our country, has been formed 
from a single piece of timber—the trunk, we may believe, of one of those giant oaks 
which overshadowed, in their day of life, the gloomy solitude of the ancient Cale¬ 
donian forests—and has most probably been hollowed, with the aid of fire, by the 
rude hands of some “ barbarian Briton.” It measures rather more than eleven feet 
in length, twenty-seven inches in breadth, and, where the sides are in best preservation, 
about fifteen in depth. The fore part of the little vessel is almost entire, but at the 
opposite extremity the sides are entirely gone: here there is a groove extending 
across the bottom, which leads us to suppose that this end of the tree had been en¬ 
tirely cut away, and that a separate piece of wood had been fitted into the groove 
mentioned, so as to form a stern. The sketch at page 49 will, however, give the 
reader a better idea of the appearance presented by this ancient relic than would any 
written description, however minute. 

We have just been referring to the aspect of the Broomielaw at such periods as 
the era of James the First of Scotland, and that of the Commonwealth; and even 
these are sufficiently remote to present a picture in astonishing contrast with the 
scene which lies before the visitant to our waters at the present day. What, then, 
would be said to a mental glance at the spot, which should go back into the times 
when the little canoe before us was seen to rest upon the stream—paddled from bank 
to bank by some skin-clad inhabitant of the adjacent woods, or floating in the shallow 
current, secured, perhaps, to the branch of some withered tree, stranded upon the 
margin of the river ?—A vision purely imaginary might be looked for as the result. 
Still, however the imagination might require to be called into play, there are not 
awanting some valid grounds, on which a tolerably fair conjecture might be based, as 
to the general appearance of the Clyde and the country through which it flows, even 
at that distant epoch when the rude bark of the half-naked savage was, as yet, the 
only description of vessel which had reposed upon its waters. 

Subsequent to the Homan Occupation, the curracli, or basket-boat covered with 
skins, was the description of vessel which seems to have been principally made use 
of upon our northern rivers. We may, therefore, venture to look upon the relic 
discovered at Springfield, as bearing an antiquity of perhaps sixteen or eighteen 


48 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


centuries, if not more. The eye which then wandered over this locality from any of 
the rising grounds adjacent, would probably behold the untrammelled river sweeping 
along, in a broad but islet-broken course, by banks covered, in some places, with 
masses of impenetrable brushwood, or—where the soil was of a firmer nature—by 
the sombre drapery of the forest; and in others verdant, for many a long extent, 
with the sedges and reeds which sprung up in the numerous lagoons, laid under 
water at every rising of the stream. There the repose of nature was as yet unbroken, 
and silently the years went past over the spot that was to resound in the future with 
the daily clamour of the spreading city.—In solitude stood the oak, we may suppose, 
by the then full and rapid waters of the Molendinar—unvisited were the birch and 
hazel bv the brooklet of St. Enoch. Where the Broomielaw extends, the mountain 
plover was accustomed, perhaps, to make her nest, amid the bent-like grass—and 
there, upon the hill of Blytheswood, the wolf, it may be, looked from her lair upon 
the startled roe deer that bounded across the holm below.—But enough of such 
speculations—the natural consequences of indulging in the flights of fancy over 
the wreck of this ancient vessel. The reader, however, will perhaps allow us to 
conclude the subject with the following serio-burlesque verses, written, apparently, 
in humble imitation of Horace Smith. If thought at all worthy of the space allotted 
them, they will have come to hand opportunely enough:— 

TO THE OLD CANOE OF THE CLYDE. 


What com’st thou to reveal—thou battered ark. 

From out thy sandy bed so rudely hurried, 

Will thine appearance serve to throw one spark 
Of light upon the age when thou wert buried? 

Are we to place thy day in that which saw 
The Druid stalking yonder, near the college ; 

Or shall we on the time more fitly draw. 

When Rome had filled the land with camps and knowledge ? 

Mayhap that, later still, thou sawest the plight 
Of this poor country, when, with shouting voices, 

Rushed Piet and Scot to chase her out of sight, 

And gulp Civilization’s choicest slices. 

Alas ! old wreck, thy voice is sealed and dumb. 

And we are left to ponder in conjecture, 

On what thou might’st have told, if it had come 
Into our fortune but to hear thee lecture. 

There was a time, no doubt, we know it well, 

When the fair river on whose breast thou floated, 

Saw many a warrior pass its tide, to sw'ell 
The ranks led on by king or chieftain noted. 



OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


49 


Then was it e’er thy luck to ferry o’er, 

From bank to bank some Caledonian hero— 

Galdus himself, perhaps, or, what is more, 

The very Graham who made the Dyke a Zero ? 

A time there was within thy ken mayhap. 

When Priest of Baal himself would cross the river; 
Had’st e’er the fortune, then, from thy dark lap, 

Such valued cargo landward to deliver ? 

Did’st ever see a Roman heave in sight, 

Proud as the Lucifer of fabulous story, 

In life-guard helm, and kilt, and sandals (light. 

Light in the purse, perchance, but rich in glory ? 

Thou wert, no doubt, long buried by the age, 

When Kenneth came with radical opinions 
To filch the crown of Cumbria, and to page 
Dunwallon’s kingdom with his own dominions. 

Nath’less thou answereth not, we fain would know 
Some chance particulars of thy private story— 

But who can pierce the secrets, old canoe, 

Locked in that look of thine so grim and hoary ? 

What was thine owner ? Did he scour the plain 
With skin tatooed, and as untamed as any 
Wild boar or wolf he warred with; or, again, 

Had he e’er learned to win an “ honest penny ?” 

Full oft, it may be, thou hast borne the weight, 

Within that hold of thine, so small and narrow, 

Of many a noble hind, or such like freight, 

Brought down in forest near by spear or arrow. 

A father’s hand, perchance, has steered thy way, 

To bring the food his little homestead ’waited. 

While blue-eyed “ young barbarians ” from their play 
Rushed forth to meet the spoil, with joy elated. 

Ah, could’st thou speak, doubtless thou might’st unfold 
Full many a story worth a place in history ; 

But as it is—farewell unto thee, old 

Spec of an age where all is doubt and mystery. 

Fain would we longer dream, but lo, the sound 
Of passing time peals o’er the busy city, 

And we must hie to mingle in the round 

Of modern stir and strife—the more’s the pity ! 



N 







50 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


THE FORMER HUTCHESONS’ HOSPITAL. 


T HE name of Hutcheson is of old standing among the burghers of Glasgow. 

Under the various forms of “ Huchisone,” “ Huchonsoune,” “ Hugosoun,’ 
with some others, it is to be frequently met with in ancient documents—filling a 
respectable place in the “ muster rolls ” of the civic rulers, the men of the law, and 
the official dignitaries of the church. Many a respectable offshoot, in truth, has the 
parent tree sent forth ; but, of all the different branches which have flourished in 
their turn, there is none that will so long continue verdant in public esteem as that 
to which belong the names of George and Thomas Hutcheson, the founders of the 
important institution to wlijcli we have now to refer. 

The father of these individuals seems to have been a person of considerable 
substance and repute. He was, apparently, what might be termed a “ gentleman 
farmer,” and was for some time a tenant, under the Bishops of Glasgow, of the 
lands of Gairbraid, on the Kelvin ; eventually, however, he became proprietor of the 
same, under a feu granted in 1588, by Walter, Commendator of Blantyre, who pos¬ 
sessed the royal authority for disposing in this manner of a portion of the church 
lands.'"' Of the personal history of his sons but little is known. George, the eldest 
of the two, was born, probably, about the year 1585, and, after a life of honourable 
prosperity, he yielded to the final claim of nature in 1640. Thomas, as appears by 
the inscription on his tombstone in the cathedral grounds, was born in 1588 or 1589, 
and survived his brother but a single year. Both were members of the legal pro¬ 
fession, and although they perhaps possessed some wealth by inheritance, they must 
have been eminent as men of business, to be able to amass the respectable fortunes 
which it was in their power to devote to the purposes of charity. The fact of 
their having been successful in accumulating money, appears, in the case of George 
Hutcheson at least, not a little surprising, should all his charges have been on a 
parallel scale with those referred to by M f Ure, who states that he was “ very mode¬ 
rate in his feesso much so, that it was reported of him that he never would accept 
of more than sixteen pennies Scots—that is less than 1 \d. sterling, for the writing 
of any ordinary bond, let the sum it referred to be “ never so great.” Both appear 
to have been married men, but neither left any legitimate descendants.! 

It was between the years 1639 and 1641 that the two brothers, at different periods, 

* M'Ure, Edit. 1830, p. 67. 

f While mentioning that his brother Thomas had been married, Dr. Cleland (Annals, fyc., vol. ii. p. 124) states that 
George Hutcheson (of Lambhill) died a bachelor. This information is evidently a mistake, as may be perceived from the 
following extract, given as a note at page 67 of the edition of M'Ure’s work published in 1830 :— 

“ Elizabeth Craig, spous to George Ilutchesoune of Lambhill, within the bur* of Glasgow the tyme of hir deceis, deceist 
rpon the xxix day of October, 1632.” 















































































































* 





























































FRC^T VIEW IN TRONPA.TE 


' All* II Irvtk 



0 L SJ >J iyj Y'G XI X SO tfll c 3 >J V t OTAiL, 


TAKEN UOWIM IN 17-94 



VIEW OF THE IIT1TER COURT 







































OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


51 


tc mortified, as it is termed in Scotland, upwards of <£3,800 sterling, to be applied 
to the foundation of an institution intended for the support of aged and decayed 
citizens, and for the education and maintenance of indigent orphans, “ or others of 
like condition,” sons of burgesses of Glasgow. Besides which, they bestowed, as the 
site of a building to be occupied by the recipients of their bounty, a " tenement of 
land, situated to the westward of the “ old^iVe st Port,”‘ : ' with a barn and barn-yard 
adjoining; and on this spot was commenced in 1641, the erection of the structure 
represented in the eleventh plate of our series. The foundation stone was laid a few 
months previous to his death by the then surviving brother, Thomas; but the edifice 
was not completed, apparently, till about the year 1660.| 

The locality selected by the Hutchesons for their Hospital buildings was, no 
doubt, well chosen. On the one hand, it was situated in the chief western thorough¬ 
fare of the town, and at a point where the projected structure could not fail to add, 
with effect, to the handsome appearance of the street—meeting, as it would do, the 
traveller’s eye whenever he had passed the corner of the adjacent gateway, to 
remind him, it may be said, at the first step, that the virtue of charity was a 
“ goodly gift.” On the other, it looked forth upon an open and airy neighbour¬ 
hood—on the garden allotments which preceded the formation of Wilson Street, and 
farther off, upon the rural lands of Ramshorn and the green boundaries of the 
Pavilion Croft.J With regard to the building itself, when at length completed, in so 
far as it ever was so, no very minute description is required. It was, what may be 
termed, a respectable pile, somewhat deficient in height—less pretending in external 
appearance than the Merchants’ Hall, with a quadrangular court behind, of which, 
however, only two sides—those to the south and west—were ever built upon as 
originally intended. Like most edifices of a public character erected in Glasgow 
during the 17th century, it possessed a spire, not unlike that of the College, but of 
smaller size. The entrance was by a gateway decorated with rustic masonry, and 
the interior comprised, besides accommodation for the pensioners, a school-room or 
hall, of respectable dimensions. On the north side of the steeple, which rose at 
the back of the main building, were placed in niches those two statues of the founders 
of the institution which now occupy the recesses in front of the Hospital in Ingram 

* The old West Port, which stood in Trongate, near the termination of the present Brunswick Place, having fallen into 
decay, was, in 1588, removed to the west of the “ Stockwallkeid,” where the West Port stood in 1641. 

f In reference to the completion of the building, the following notice appears in the Burgh Records (Vide Memorabilia, 
p. 197) 

“Vth Jan., 1660.—The same day Hendrie Glen, Maister of Hutchesones Hospitall, is warrandit heirby to wrytt to Pearth 
for ane plaisterer there to come heir for plastering of the said Hospitall.”—Was such a person as a qualified plasterer not to be 
found at that era in the City of St. Mungo ? 

j Also known of old as the Lang Croft. The ground is now occupied by Cochrane Street, etc. It received the appellation 
of the Pavilion Croft from the circumstance of the Earl of Angus having encamped his forces there, to the number of 12,000 
men, when in arms against the Regent Albany, in the minority of James V.— Denholm, p. 115. 


52 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


Street; * while, over the entrance in Trongate, there was an inscription on a marble 
tablet, which announced, in gilded letters, the purposes of the building, and the 
names of the individuals whose philanthropy had called it into existence. 

We see, in the plate, the old structure under a changed appearance, with the in¬ 
novation of shop-windows and sign-boards disfiguring the original elevation of its 
front; but these alterations having arisen from, we may believe, prudential motives, 
were not, perhaps, to be altogether condemned—at all events, the day of their ex¬ 
istence has long since receded into the past. The accompanying drawing, indeed, 
may be said to give a picture of the building as it appeared when the fiat had already 
gone forth that was to level it with the dust. The act of demolition occurred in 1795, 
to admit of the formation of Hutcheson Street—a proceeding called for by the rapidly 
increasing value of the property behind. 

It has been already mentioned, that much of the ground situated between the line 
of the Trongate and the “ Back Cow Loan ”—a narrow road which has given place to 
Ingram Street—was occupied as gardens, many of them having been places of public 
resort pretty much frequented by the citizens in former times. In reference to the 
unfinished court of the old Hospital, of which a representation is given in the an¬ 
nexed plate, it seems to have, at all times, been pretty freely made use of as a place 
of juvenile recreation. In the drawing may be observed a number of boys at play, 
and this, we are informed by the gentleman who kindly furnished the original sketch, 
may be termed a reminiscence of the last game at ball ever engaged in there. In 
earlier times the place seems to have been desecrated by the presence of very dif¬ 
ferent scenes; as it appears that, in 1688, the proper authorities had found it neces¬ 
sary to ordain that “ no dancing masters or fencing masters’’ were to be permitted 
to teach in the Hall, “ nor any bull-baiting allowed in the closs of the Hospital.” \ 

For a lengthened period the income of this institution was only sufficient for the 
support of twelve old men, and the education, &c. of as many boys. In course of 
time, however, the sources of its revenue have become so highly productive, that it 
has long since taken its place as one of the most important among the “ charities ” 
of private foundation which exist in Scotland. In times past (as at present) the 
management of the establishment seems to have been of a prudential and careful, 
yet considerate character. The young orphans, or sons of indigent parents, received 
within its walls, were provided with that best of passports into the busy field of life 
—a plain but substantial education ; while their physical acquirements were also at¬ 
tended to. Nor were the recreations of youth exiled from the spot, and many a time 

* According to the Burgh Records, it appears that, in 1655, (Nov. 24) it was agreed upon that James Colquhoun should 
receive five hundred merks Scots, “ for the hewing, forming, and putting up of Mr. Thomas Ilutchesounes poirtraitur in the 
Hospitall,” die. 

f History of Hutchesons' Hospital, p. 66. 


OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


53 


and oft, it may be imagined, did the old court, represented in the plate, ring with 
the merry voices of a stirring band, who, although with the usual levity of youth in¬ 
sensible, it may be, for the time, of all that was due on their parts to the memory of 
the men whose motionless forms looked down upon their sports from the twin niches 
of the spire, would, in after life, perhaps, cherish a grateful respect for the names of 
their benefactors. As to the old men—the recipients of a bounty intended to smooth 
the rugged way which usually lies before the steps of penury and age, the retreat 
provided by the care of the Hutchesons must, in many a case, have proved a welcome 
haven of rest—a haven within which the shaft of poverty was to be deprived of its 
keenest sting, and the chill remembrance of adversity to be tempered as it passed. 

Any regular details as to the progressive history of the institution or the statistics 
of its income, will not be expected here. We have only, therefore, before leaving the 
subject, to refer to one or two random particulars with regard to the Hospital and its 
inmates, which may possibly be thought worthy of notice. The cost of the structure 
from the period of Mr. Thomas Hutcheson’s death till its completion was <£26,194:8:11 
Scots ; this sum included £99 for two “ marble stones” brought from London, and 
£100 for “carving and lettering the marble table above the entry”.* Among the 
earliest purchases of ground effected by the patrons of the institution, were “ four rigs 
of land” situated behind the Hospital, and which were bought from the College for 
£333 : 6 : 8 Scots, f About the year 1650 occurred the more important transaction 
which placed this charity in possession of one half of the lands of “ Gorbals and 
Brigend.” Additional heritable property was, from time to time, acquired; none of 
it, however, deserving of any particular notice, except, perhaps, that ancient mine 
of building materials called the “ Crackling-house Quarry,” filled up sixty years 
ago, and over the site of which the line of Dundas Street has since been led. Here, 
in 1744, the patrons of the Hospital made an unsuccessful attempt at boring for 
coal; | had the search been fortunate, it is probable that the locality would have pre¬ 
sented at the present day a very different appearance from what it does. 

As to the scholars and pensioners of Hutchesons’ Hospital, we learn from M‘Ure, 
that the boys, in his time, wore no distinctive dress, and that the old men only did so 
on Sundays, when they usually proceeded in a body to a pew set apart for them in the 
Tron Church, clad in dark grey cloaks which had the sleeves and collars faced with 
green. He adds, however, that their appearance in this dress was not strictly required, 
because, as he states it, “many decayed burgesses of respect and credit retire thither 
in the decline of their age.” In later times the boys have been clothed in a uniform 
style, and one of the most interesting sights which periodically present themselves on 

* Cleland’s Annals, ii. p. 127. 

f Ibid. 

} Ibid, ii. p. 131. 

0 


54 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


our streets, is that which to them enlivens the clay, when the scholars of the Hospital 
assemble clad in the new dresses, in the joyous season of spring. It is on the 26 th 
of April that the children belonging to the various charitable institutions and free- 
schools of the city are still, we believe, accustomed to assemble at the Hospital in 
Ingram Street, from which they walk in procession to attend divine service in St. 
Andrew’s Church, whence they are afterwards conducted to their respective school¬ 
rooms, or halls, and there provided with an excellent dinner. The day, as may be 
well believed, is one of high expectation to the children as well as to their parents; 
and as it occurs at a season when the revival of nature exerts a happy influence on 
every side, and offers the thousand treasures of field and garden for ornamental display, 
there is always to be seen in the juvenile procession, a great exhibition of flowers, 
stuck in cap or jacket by affectionate hands, and setting off with a doubly cheerful 
effect the ruddy faces of the children, and the holiday appearance of the dresses in 
which they are on that occasion, for the first time equipped. It would be a matter 
of regret indeed, were this simple ceremonial to be allowed to fall into dissuetude ,* 
a little more publicity, coupled with some additional display, might even perhaps be 
bestowed upon it with good effect; at all events, it certainly will never, in the mind 
of the working man, add to the distance which seems to divide him from the upper 
classes, when he beholds the magistrates and other inhabitants of superior station 
mingling in the light of guardians among the children of the poor, and giving their 
public countenance to such an exhibition as that we have referred to. 

As previously mentioned, the founders of this Hospital left no lineal descendants, 
but it would seem that they had several nephews and a niece, to some, if not all, of 
whom, the eldest brother, Mr. George Hutcheson, left respectable legacies. These 
would appear, however, to have soon melted away in their hands, as we are told that 
two of them, or of their descendants, eventually died in poverty within the walls of 
the Hospital which the charity of their ancestors had reared ; at so early a date, in¬ 
deed, as the year 1660 , it is on record, in the sederunt book of the managers, that 
George Pollok, son of Margaret Pollok, “ lawful sister’s daughter to the foimdators,” 
was received to be “ interteined ” in the Hospital, and, at the same time, in consi¬ 
deration of the said Margaret Pollok being the nearest of their kindred then in ex¬ 
istence, it was agreed upon that she should receive a donation “for her present help 
and supplie,” of twenty Pounds Scots. 

Like his celebrated contemporary, George Heriot, the elder of the Hutchesons 
left a natural daughter; and in the lives of both these hapless descendants of men 
who had done so much to relieve the unfortunate, there is the singular coincidence, 
that they were equally compelled to become, in their latter years, dependents on the 
charity of those amongst whom the twin institutions of their fathers were dispensing 
many a blessing. Ileriot’s daughter was married to a person who dissipated a 

































































































OLD HDUoES AT THE CORNER OY STOCKWET.L & O-BEAT CEZHE ST. THE LATE HOBERT DRESHOKN'S HOUSE GREAT CLYDE 3TREE 































































































' 

































































. * 

# 


















OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


handsome fortune which had been bequeathed to her, and she was eventually, when 
in very reduced circumstances, obliged to apply for support to the managers of her 
parent’s bounty. Of the history of George Hutcheson’s daughter, we know nothing 
further than that such a person existed, that she latterly lived, and died in Holland, 
and that she received a pension from the city of Glasgow."' 

On the south side of the Cathedral, and near its western end, may still be seen 
the monument erected to the memory of Mr. Thomas Hutcheson, which affords a 
tolerable idea of the fanciful taste of the age in such structures, when even the aid of 
gilding was not thought inappropriate to the decoration of the tomb. It bears a Latin 
inscription which mentions that he died in 1641, at the age of 52. 


OLD HOUSES IN STOCKWELL STREET, &c. 

T HE next plate in the series contains four subjects, all perhaps, with some degree 
of interest attached to them, as the representatives of particular periods in the 
progress of bygone times. The first of these—respectable alike from its years, and 
from the traces of ancient importance which yet linger upon it—stands upon the east 
side of what was formerly known as the “ Stockwallgait”—originally, no doubt, a 
mere country road, leading from the ferry or bridge, and for a length of time bounded 
only by a few straggling cottages, which, in their turn, gave way to a better class of 
buildings, somewhat similar in appearance to that represented in the picture before us. 

The earliest information we have been able to meet with in connexion with this 
old house, is contained in a legal document drawn up in 1599 ; from which it appears 
that the spot it occupies formed at that period a portion of the site of three small 
tenements, with adjacent inclosures, commonly known by the name of “ yeards.” 
These tenements having previously become ruinous, were, in the year 1668, disposed 


* The following extracts from the Burgh Records, have reference to the subject, (Memorabilia, pp. 315, 331, 338):— 

“ 18th Jan., 1G79._The said day ordains ... to pay to Johne Craig ten dukadounes, (ducatoons) quhilk is threttie- 

fyve punds Scots, quhilk lie is to send to Holland to Jonet Hutchesoune, naturall daughter to umqll George Hutchesoune, for 
her supplie; And it is concludit that als much be sent her ycarlie during her lyftyme.” 

From Treasurer's Account, September, 1683.—“Item (paid) to John Brysson in name of umqll. George Hutchisone’s 
naturall daughter, for her yeirs pensioune, allowed to her yeirly—GO 0*. 0^.” 

“ 17th July (1684)_The said day ordaines John Fleyming, Dean of Gild, to pay to Jean Main tliretty Pounds Scots, for 

helping to pay the funeralls of Jonet Hutchesone ane pensioner of the toune who deceist in Holland.” 




56 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


of to a Mr. John Caldwell, who had them demolished, and their places supplied by 
two edifices of better appearance, and more respectable pretensions, which stood in 
juxta-position upon the line of the street. The one to the south was many years ago 
removed, to make way for a modern erection; the other still braves the adverse 
assaults of time, and is the house which forms the subject of the view. 

Although this lingering relic of the age of the “merry monarch" may be traced 
to have passed, at successive periods, into the possession of various individuals of 
respectable standing among the merchants of the city, we have nothing to repeat in 
connexion with its domestic historv. nor anv old stories to unveil, which mioht recall 
one trait of their lives and labours from the nameless graves of those who had experi¬ 
enced the destinies of our being—the currents of joy and sorrow beneath the shadow 
of its roof. Barren, then, of anything like what could be called a “ tale," this aged 
domicile solicits a passing notice, simply from its external appearance, and from the 
curious contrast which it presents to the plain unprepossessing neighbours in whose 
company it stands. The alterations effected in modem days, have certainly not 
improved its looks; the traces, however, of a former respectability are there, with 
much that speaks of a “ bein' and comfortable standing on the part of its earlier 
possessors. The style of its architecture is one which seems to have been in con¬ 
siderable favour between the period of the Restoration and the times of William the 
Third; and, while this building was still in the freshness of youth, its numerous 
mouldings sharply defined, and the abundant carvings over the upper casements 
unbroken and clear, we may easily conceive that it presented no unattractive front to 
the line of the then semi-rural Stockwell Street. Behind it was a garden and sum- 
mer-house, both of which are referred to in the old title deeds of the propertv—quiet 
places of retreat to which the industrious citizen could retire when the hours of his 
business occupation were past, to observe, perhaps, the voting inheritors of his name 
disporting among verdant walks, and plucking, it maybe, the favourite berry from its 
“ thorny bower," or the ruddy apple from the parent tree : and all this in what has 
become one of the most noxious localities in the city—the immediate vicinitv of the 
Old Wynd ! 

At the present time, this old house is in the possession of more than one proprietor 
or tenant; the lower floor being occupied as spirit cellars, the upper one as work¬ 
shops. The appearance of the interior presents almost nothing that can be thought 
suggestive of better days, and of everything antique in and around the structure, it 
may well be said, “ the glory is departed.” 

The adjoining compartment of the plate is occupied by the sketch of a homely 
and nondescript kind of building, which was removed some twentv vears a^o from 
the lower part of Stockwell Street. There is nothing to be said about it farther 
than to remark, that this record of its appearance has been “ secured to posterity," 


OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


57 


as the specimen of a class of houses at one time pretty numerous throughout the 
town. We are ignorant, however, as to the date of its erection, but few would,, 
on this account, refuse it a place amongst the other illustrations of old street archi¬ 
tecture which diversify the volume. 

The third of the four subjects in the plate before us, gives the view of a house 
which may still be seen, occupying a position at the angle formed by Stockwell and 
Great Clyde Streets. The portion which presents its front to the former is, to appear¬ 
ance, a comparatively recent erection, and forms merely an addition to the older 
building which rises behind it. This more ancient part has been an edifice of no 
trifling pretensions, and seems to have been reared with more than ordinary care and 
expense, as the appearance of its walls, both towards the street, and at the back, 
sufficiently testify. We have heard it stated that this was anciently known as the 
Custom-house, and it may not improbably be that which is mentioned in the Burgh 
Records as standing near the Bridge in 1643.'"' This may, therefore, be identified 
with the building of which a part is shown beyond the archway of the South Port in 
the first plate of our series—Slezer’s view of Glasgow from St Ninian’s Croft, f 

Next to the above, and last of the four, we have a sketch of the mansion oc¬ 
cupied some forty years ago by an individual who may be termed one of the public 
characters of his day, Mr. Robert Dregliorn. He was the son of Mr. Allan Dreg- 
horn, joiner in Glasgow, from whom he inherited a respectable fortune; and was in¬ 
debted for his general notoriety to the circumstance of his having been looked upon 
by his fellow-citizens as one of the ugliest men of the age, and, at the same time, a 
most passionate admirer of the gentler sex. To many of the seniors of our city his 
personal appearance must be perfectly familiar, and the recollection of the dread 
with which the mention of his name was wont to inspire the juvenile branches of 
the community, may, probably, in some instances, be recalled to them from the 
distant vista of actual experience. To such as knew him not, it will serve no good 
purpose to revert to the story of his eccentricities, or to dwell upon that freak of 
nature which, after all, may have planted the thorn of bitterness in a not unkindly 
heart, and have led, by its effect upon the feelings, to the catastrophe which termi¬ 
nated his existence, in, we believe, the year 1806. 

The house in Great Clyde Street was erected by his father, a person who enjoyed 
the distinction of being the first in the city to introduce the novelty of a private 
carriage. J It has been a handsome structure, and is not unworthy of pictorial 

* Memorabilia, p. 128. 

f The site of the old Custom-house seems to have been occupied in 1487 by a building, the property “Roberti Stewarde 
prepositi Glasguensis,” and which, we are informed, stood adjoining to the “ Barres Yeth,” (South Port?) on the west side of 
the street.—Vide Registrum Episcopatus Glasguensis, (Maitland Club), p. 453.—Me are not confident, however, as to the site 
of the “ Barres Yeth.” 

I This was constructed by his own workmen. Dr. Cleland mentions that Robert Dreghorn’s grandfather began to work 
the Govan Colliery in 1714.—“ Enumeration,” &c. p. 186-9. 

Coal pits, however, were sunk in Gorbals Moor at a much earlier date.—(Vide Memorabilia.) 

P 


58 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


preservation, as indicative of the style of building which was patronised by the 
wealthier classes of Glasgow during the earlier part of the reign of George the Third. 
At that era the extension of the city had proceeded with rapid steps, especially as 
regarded the better class of dwellings called “ self-contained.” A profitable colonial 
trade was then on the increase; and as their prosperity advanced, the merchants of 
Glasgow seem to have pretty generally discovered that the quarters they had anciently 
possessed on the common stairs of the Trongate or Saltmarket, were but poorly 
adapted for its becoming display. Hence arose the handsome edifices of Miller 
Street, Argyle Street, Queen Street, and other localities, all of which bore something 
of a common likeness—the style being tolerably well represented in the mansion of 
the Dregliorns. 

After the death of the last owner of the name, his abode in Clyde Street long 
remained unoccupied, and acquired, in vulgar belief, the reputation of being haunted. 
This was enough to invest it with every sort of suspicion of a diabolical nature, and 
it long had the preeminence of being looked upon with dread. With the lapse of 
time, however, every unearthly tenant would seem to have been routed from the field, 
and the halls of “ Bob Dragon ” have been latterly converted into a receptacle for the 
sale of old furniture and other commodities of a similar description. 


OLD HOUSES IN HIGH STREET, 

(East and West Sides.) 

C \N the interior side of that part of the wall of the Cathedral churchyard which 
skirts the passage leading to the “ Bridge of Sighs,” there may be seen a plain 
slab of stone, inscribed with these words—“ Here lyes the body of Patrick Maxwell, 
son of John Maxwell of Allhouse, Mercht. Taylor ; who died deacon convener 1623 , 
& Bessy Boyd his spouse.” The John Maxwell of Allhouse, or Auldhouse, as it is 
now written, here referred to, was a cadet of the family of Pollok, having been a 
lineal descendant of that Sir John Maxwell of Pollok who lived in the time of James 
the Fourth.*' The Patrick Maxwell of the inscription was a younger son, who, 
having settled in Glasgow as a trader, had the good fortune to be successful in his 
calling, and to elevate himself to a position of high respectability.! 

* Crawford's Renfrewshire, p. 34. 

t The following entry appears in the Treasurer’s Accounts, presented to the Town Council in 1611;_ 

“ Item.—The xvii of August, to Patrick Maxwell, for grein silk fustean and uthir fumesing, furnist to the twa grein clathis 
to the counsall satis in the kirkis heich and laich, comforme to the warrand, xxxvij£. xis. xid. ’ ’— Memorabilia, p. 75. 
















E AS T S IDE. WE S T S ID K 















































































































































































































































OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


59 


Now, from all we have been able to discover upon the subject (but much may 
still be said to rest on supposition), we are inclined to believe that the house in 
High Street which forms the subject of the plate before us, was erected, if not by 
himself, at least by some descendant who had a pride in remembering the source from 
which he sprung. The style and appearance of the building almost forbids us to 


suppose that it belongs to so 
distant a period as the begin¬ 
ning of the seventeenth cen¬ 
tury ; it may, indeed, be of 
more modern date by at least 
a hundred years, but still 
there is to be seen, sculptured 
upon its front, that which 
seems to speak of the union 
of Patrick Maxwell with 



“ Bessy Boyd.” We allude 
to the time-worn Coat of 
Arms which is to be observed 
between the windows of the 
first and second floors, and in 
which the saltire, or St. An¬ 
drew’s cross, of the Pollok 
family, is united per pale with 
the fesse chequy, argent and 
gules, of the Boyds. 


Here there is, if not what may be called conclusive, at all events strong circum¬ 
stantial evidence, to connect the house in question with the couple who rest side by 
side in the cathedral grounds, or some of their descendants. On various accounts 
we may perhaps believe it to have been built subsequent to their decease. In 
the first place, because it appears unlikely that it should have escaped the destructive 
fires of 1652 and 1677, which swept away, we are told, the greatest part of the houses 
in Saltmarket, Trongate, and lower part of High Street; and in the second, because 
M‘Ure—in his list of what he calls the new buildings erected subsequent to the last- 
mentioned conflagration—enumerates “ the great lodging of Mr. Patrick Maxwell,” 
as being one of those which occupied the east side of High Street.'* This individual 
was, no doubt, a descendant of the first of the name referred to, and it was he who 
in all probability erected the edifice in question—placing the shield of his ancestor 
upon its front to exhibit to the world that he could boast of, what in towns has ever 
been much regarded, a descent from County families of aristocratic standing. 

From the manner in which his name is mentioned by M‘Ure, we should suppose 
this Patrick Maxwell to have been a contemporary, otherwise, the precise “ Clerk 
to the Registration of Seisins and other Evidents” would, doubtless, have spoken of 
him in the past tense. We know nothing farther, however, with regard to him; but 
assuming that the house referred to had been his residence, it may be inferred that he 
was a person who occupied a very respectable position among the citizens of Glasgow. 
The appearance of the building has been considerably altered in modern times, 
especially as regards the lower or street floor, in which the glaring windows of a 


* It is very probable that the existing house was built on the site of one erected by Mr. Maxwell, the Deacon Convener, 
who died in 1623. 














6a 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


spirit-dealer’s shop, and other novelties of the kind, have changed the character 
of the old exterior. Besides which, the proprietorship of the house has become so 
subdivided, that it is now a difficult matter to arrive at any authentic particulars of 
its early history. But even without the aid of any historical memoranda, this old 
edifice is not unworthy of a passing notice, as one of the most notable among the 
antiquated buildings which are still to be seen along the line of the High Street. 

The first of the two extensive conflagrations recently alluded to, commenced on 
the afternoon of the 17th June, 1652, in a narrow lane situated upon the east side of 
the street, above the cross, and in the course of eighteen hours it laid in ruins a con¬ 
siderable part of the town. Like the great fire of London, it was one of those visi¬ 
tations which, however severely felt at the time, was, in the end, productive of no 
little good. Before this infliction, the houses in Glasgow were chiefly constructed 
of wood and plaster, and, as regarded the back closes, were so crowded together that r 
amid their calculations as to the value of everv inch of ground in the neighbourhood 
of the principal streets, our ancestors would seem never to have taken into consider¬ 
ation the possibility of such a thing as fire ever attempting to get the upper hand 
amongst them. When this occurred, as was frequently the case, the consequences 
were very severe, yet many a lesson of experience had to be learned, before the 
inhabitants bethought them of introducing a style of building which might render 
them less liable than they had been, to the misfortune of being thrown upon the world 
bereft of “ gudes and gear.” The estimated loss on the occasion referred to was 
enormous for the period, amounting to a hundred thousand pounds sterling. It is 
rather interesting to find the plaint of the “ towne of Glasgow in Scotland ” calling 
forth, as it did under this serious calamity, an expression of commiseration, and 
words of incitement to public charity, on the part of Cromwell, Lambert, Desbrough, 
and others among the leading men of the great Rebellion."' 

In several of the “ closes ” in the older parts of the city, particularly in those 
leading off the Gallowgate and the Saltmarket, may still be discovered many build¬ 
ings belonging to the age when, despite of every warning, the habitations of the 
citizens were chiefly formed of timber. A considerable number of these must have 
risen upon the ruins of others destroyed in the two great fires of the seventeenth century,, 
and, from their generally crowded position, they serve to show in how slight a degree 
considerations of a prudential nature had, in such matters, guided the steps of the 
worthy citizens of former days. These old houses nevertheless are highly interesting 
to the local antiquary, as the existing witnesses of a period in our history which has 
left many a noted memorial of its passage upon the dial-plate of time ; and the veri¬ 
table enthusiast in the lore of bygone days will, when resting his attention upon their 

* See “a representation of the said condition, <Lc.” of the people of Glasgow, drawn up in 1653, appendix to Gibson’» 
Glasgow, p. 314. 


OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


61 


successively projecting floors, have little difficulty in supplying a picture of the gen¬ 
eral condition of existence around them, when their possessors were accustomed to 
congregate in the one or the other, to listen, perhaps, to whispered reports of the 
doings at Bothwell Brig, or to doff their “ blue bonnets ” at the startling intelli- 
gence of the Second James’s unhoped-for flight. 

Although, when referring to this old mansion, it might be permitted us to descant 
a little upon the particular antiquities of the High Street, we fear that this would 
scarcely be warranted without extending these “ Notices” to a degree beyond what 
was originally intended, and in a manner that the reader may probably find there has 
been quite enough of before he has managed to get to the end of the volume. But 
having another drawing in view, which demands its share of attention—we allude to 
that appearing on the same sheet with what, in the style of language adopted by the 
excavators of Pompeii, may be called “ the house of the Maxwells ”—we must still 
linger for a few moments in the “ High-Kirk Street,” as M‘Ure styles it, although 
possessed of very little to say with regard to the second of the subjects upon which 
the artist has bestowed his attention. 

The house referred to must be pretty well known to all who have a personal 
acquaintance with the older parts of the town. It is one of the few buildings re¬ 
maining which serve to convey to the existing generation an idea of what was the 
general style of our street architecture at that period when, in the eyes of many an 
English visitor, Glasgow was regarded as the only place in Scotland which, in so far 
as her principal streets were concerned, could bear a comparison with the com¬ 
fortable and cleanly towns of the south. Here, crowded at the present day with 
pails, tubs, churns, butter moulds, and such articles, there remains a lingering spe¬ 
cimen of the arcades or piazzas which had once extended along the basement floors 
of almost all the buildings in the neighbourhood of the cross. In alluding to this 
locality, De Foe, writing about the year 1726, says “ the houses are all of stone, and 
generally uniform in height as well as in front. The lower stories, for the most part, 
stand on vast square Doric columns, with arches, which open into the shops, adding 
to the strength, as well as beauty, of the building. In a word, ’tis one of the clean¬ 
liest, most beautiful, and best-built cities in Great Britain.” Morer in 1689 de¬ 
scribes the principal streets as “ well paved [causewayed], and bounded with stately 
buildings, especially about the centre, where they are mostly new, with piazzas under 
them.” On the east side of High Street, near the Cross, another vestige of these 
piazzas may be seen. It consists of but a single archway, within the retirement of 
which—as was the case with the “ merchants ” of other days—sits a dealer who, in 
appropriate keeping with the place, supplies the public, possibly on terms as good as 
may be had at more imposing establishments, with many a useful fabric of home pro¬ 
duction in linen and in wool. In various other quarters traces of the old arcades may be 

Q 


62 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


seen; but in the majority of instances the archways have been walled up, and shops 
have been formed in them, with doors and windows on a line with the pavement. 

It is easy to conceive what must have been the pleasant surprise of that man of 
misty hyperbole, Richard Francks, when, in the days of the commonwealth, he made 
his entry into Glasgow from the town of Kilmarnock, where he and his fellow traveller 
had been so “ bravely refreshed.’’ In the first place, he probably passed along the 
Bridgegate, struck with the handsome appearance of many a dwelling-house that 
told of successful industry, and of an advancement in social convenience and comfort 
scarcely to have been looked for so far to the north. Next would the lofty buildings 
of the Saltmarket solicit his admiration—the long rows of their arcades affording 
shelter from the sun or rain, and exhibiting in the background the open windows of 
many a little mart, piled with projecting rolls of cloth, ribbed, or checkered with blue 
and white, or showing in the homely colour of a lightish gray.—Here the tripping 
maiden, half concealed in one of the parti-coloured plaids which Ray alludes to,'* 
would perhaps meet the inquisitive gaze of our rambling enthusiast, as she issued 
from some one or other of these little shops—in which, it may be, the produce of 
the “ baxter’s ” art was ranged upon the shelves, or where cases of genuine Shie- 
dam stood side by side with packages of French salt, crockery from Holland, prunes 
from Bordeaux, almonds, spices, and various other commodities. Elderly ladies, in 
a somewhat similar, but more sober dress, or women of the lower ranks in white 
short-gowns (Ray compares them to “ napkins ” hanging about their persons), might 
perhaps here and there be seen, issuing from the narrow closes, or standing bargain¬ 
ing with the shopkeepers in the arcades; while, as he approached the Cross—if his 
roving admiration permitted him to take any notice of the people around—he would 
probably meet in its vicinity with a considerable assembly of citizens, some clad 
in short cloaks and hats, passing to and fro upon the “ crown of the causeway,” 
others sauntering about, wearing the national bonnet, and cased in hodden grey. 
From that central spot his gaze rested, at all the four points of the compass, upon 
wide well-causewayed streets, handsome stone buildings, and other evidences of pro¬ 
sperity—enabling him with some show of reason to break out with the ejaculation:— 
“the very prospect of this flourishing city reminds me of the beautiful fabricks 
and the florid fields in England.—How many such cities shall we meet with where 
the streets and the channels are so cleanly swept, and the meat in every house 
so artificially dressed? * "* '* I’ll superscribe it the non-such of Scotland, where 
an English florist may pick up a posie; so that should the residue of her cities, in 
our northern progress, seem as barren as uncultivated fields, and every field so re¬ 
plenished with thistles that a flower could scarcely flourish amongst them, yet would 
I celebrate thy praise, 0 Glasgow! because of those pleasant and fragrant flowers 
that so sweetly refreshed me, and to admiration sweetened our present entertainments.” 

* “ Account of Glasgow 1661. 





®° If Mil (Sia^lo 0©i®. 













































































































OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


63 


THE “BELL OF THE BRAE.” 

^PHE Bell of the Brae—a term applied, in the Scottish language, to the highest 
-L part upon the slope of a hill —was the spot situated at the intersection of the 
High Street with the lines of the Drygate and Rottenrow. Here, in the more distant 
periods of our local history, stood, it is believed, the Market Cross—that never- 
failing object, to be met with in the central locality of the most of our towns— 
while the desire for the constant exhibition of the outward symbols of their religion 
continued to be felt by the people in every corner of the land. | It is probable, 
indeed, that this spot continued to be known as the Cross, from the time when the 
town began to creep into existence, upon the foundation of the see in the early part 
of the twelfth century, down to the age of the grandson of Bruce, or to that of his 
successor, Robert the Third. 

We cannot say at what period the old “ Crux Foralis ” was removed—if not in 
reality, at least in name—from the upper end of the High Street to its lower ex¬ 
tremity, but this had evidently occurred prior to the year 1423, when James the 
First returned from his long captivity in England. In a document, for instance, 
dated 1419, mention is made of a building as situated “ in Magno Vico,” in the 
great street leading from the Cathedral to the Market Cross; J and again, in 1426, 
another is referred to, as standing in the “ great streetextending “ a Cruce Fori ’ 
towards the chapels of St. Thomas, the martyr, and St. Tanew.§ Many similar 
allusions might be taken notice of, extending in succession down to the year 1549, 
and we have referred to some of them in the note below, but the above might, per¬ 
haps, be sufficient to show that the spot now called the Cross had been known as 
such at an ealier period than many have supposed. || 

Going back, however, into the thirteenth or fourteenth centuries, we have the 
Bell of the Brae in all the importance, whatever that may have been, which belonged 


* See Jamieson's Scottish Dictionary, who mentions that, in the Cambro-British, Bui signifies a prominence, or that 
which juts out. 

f Was it the more ancient Cross of the city, and that which had stood, previous to the Reformation, at the Bell of the 
Brae, that is referred to in th q Burgh Records —in which, sub anno, 1575, ‘‘James Rankene ” is found guilty of removing 
“ ane greit croce,” lying in the Rottenrow, and the property of the town.—Vide Burgh Records, (Maitland Club) p. 43. 

I Appendix to “ Book of our Lady College,” &c. p. 240. 

§ Now the Trongate.— Ibid. p. 244. 

|| We find, amongst a variety of others, the following referred to, namely :—Streets leading—from the Cross to the South 
Port—(in one instance this gate is termed “ Communis Porta, lie Nedder Barras Yett;” also, “Porta Inferior”)—from the 
Cross to the West Port—and from the Cross to the East Port. During the 15th and lGth centuries, the place where the four 
streets meet at the top of the High Street, seems to have been termed “ Quadrivium,” in contradistinction to the site ot 
the “ Crux Foralis.” Public markets would appear to have been held at the top of the High Street down to the reign of James 
VI.—(Vide Ante, p. 20, note.)—M‘Ure mentions “the four streets near the Castle, downward to the College,” as being the 
places chiefly resorted to in his day, during the fair of St. Mungo.—(P. 6.) 


64 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


to it as tlie recognised centre of the city. Here, in those ages, were congregated, we 
may conjecture, the various booths and stands from which the inhabitants were sup¬ 
plied with the common necessaries of life and, at this spot, probably, the entire 
traffic of the burgh was anciently carried on. On the Thursdays in particular, this 
must have been the scene of no inconsiderable bustle—crowded, as it no doubt often 
was, with the country people from the neighbourhood, mingled with their little horses, 
cattle, and panniers, and perhaps, a few primitive carts.| A veritable picture of a 
market assemblage, such as it may have been at the Cross of Glasgow five or six 
hundred years ago, is one that would certainiy prove of no little interest in the city 
of Saint Mungo. Enough is known of the habits, dress, commodities, and mode of 
living of the Scotch during the reigns of James the First and his immediate prede¬ 
cessors to supply the outline of the scene, while a slight exertion of the imagination, 
based upon a due acquaintance with our ancient chroniclers, would be sufficient, 
perhaps, to furnish the more particular details. 

From the information conveyed by Froissart, /Eneas Sylvius,J afterwards Pope 
Pius II., and some other writers, we are possessed of many curious particulars with 
regard to the people of Scotland during the period which elapsed—in speaking of 
matters of local interest—between the episcopate of William Rae and that of his 
ambitious successor. Bishop Cameron. Both, however, coming from countries in 
which the highest then-known civilization was to be met with, have taken, it may be 
presumed, a rather contemptuous view of the state of affairs in our northern realm— 
or, more properly speaking, they seem to have encountered so much of a barbarous 
character in the agrarian districts, that the slight progress of superior advancement 
which had made itself visible in the cathedral towns, was to them, apparently, a 
redeeming feature totally unknown. 

According to Froissart, the houses of the peasantry throughout the country were, 
in the reign of Robert the Second, mere huts, composed of turf, and roofed with the 
branches of trees; the inhabitants being, at the same time, indebted to the Dutch 
for such common articles as horseshoes, and every description of ordinary harness. 
./Eneas Sylvius tells us, on his part, that this was a cold country, bearing but few 

* By charter from William the Lyon, a weekly market was instituted at Glasgow to be held on Thursday, “ Diei Jouis,” 
as the original has it.—Vide ‘ ‘ Registrum, ’ ’ <tc., p. 36. 

f From an old English poem entitled “ The Bibel of English Policy,” supposed to date from the age of Henry IV., and 
quoted by Pinkerton, (Hist. vol. 1, p. 407,) we find mentioned among the imports of Scotland from Flanders, 

“-grete plente of haberdashe ware. 

And with cart wheles bare, 

And barowes are laden in substaunce; 

Thus must rude ware ben her chevesance.” 

+ One of the Piccolomini family—he visited Scotland in the reign of James I. His notes as to the condition of the country 
are highly curious, they were published at Frankfort in 1614, under the title of “ Pii II. Commentarii Rerum Memorabilem sui 
Temp oris.” -Froissart was in this country somewhere about the year 1360. 



OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


G5 


descriptions of grain, very destitute of trees, but—his ideas seeming to have run 
strongly upon the matter of fuel—possessed of a peculiar stone, which served to 
supply their place; pieces of which were distributed in alms at the church doors. 
The towns, he says, were unwalled, and the houses in general built without lime. 
He mentions, likewise, that amongst the lower ranks butcher-meat and fish were 
abundant, but that bread was regarded as a luxury; and that from Scotland were 
exported to Flanders, hides, wool, salt fish, and pearls.* 

It is probable, however, that to any one desirous of forming a just idea of some 
of the features which may have distinguished a gathering of the people at the market 
Cross of Glasgow in the times we refer to, the well-known poems of James the First, 
entitled “ Christis Kirk of the Grene,” and “ Peblis to the Play,” will afford, a 
few occasional hints not to be lightly valued. For a lengthened period, both before 
and after his accession to the throne, the progress of change in the manners and 
customs of the people was exceedingly slow; and whatever the monarch brings 
forward as characteristic of a rural merry-making during his own reign, will, most 
probably, serve indirectly to exhibit many of the peculiar features in external ap¬ 
pearance, which had marked the accustomed meetings of the people at their places 
of weekly traffic for a long period previous to his age. 

From these productions of the Royal poet, and other sources, it appears, that 
in public, the women of the ordinary ranks were arrayed in hoods or kerchiefs, tippets, 
and the kirtle or close fitting gown ;f while the members of the male sex mingled in 
every throng—wearing woollen bonnets, or hats of basket-work made from the twigs 
of the birch, with doublets or cloaks, and a kind of short trousers, below which the 
legs and feet were suffered to remain bare. Mention is made of the “ cadger,” 
who carried fish throughout the country on his little horse; of a tavern with clean 
table linen and a regular “ score” upon the wall; with various other particulars 
of much interest to those who may desire to become acquainted with the old manners 
and customs of the country. 

We wander, however, from the subject properly before us—the ancient market¬ 
place of the Cathedral City, the Bell of the Brae. But, after all, what is to be said 
of a spot, regarding which no one has ever thought proper to put pen to paper ? 
unless it be allowable to go off at a tangent to look for a subject among, what 
painters would term, the borrowed lights. Much, no doubt, has that locality beheld 
of no mean interest in its day; but who can now attempt to do more than build 


* We refer the reader to Pinkerton’s History, for additional information on the general condition of Scotland during the 
reign of the Stuart line. 

f Never, says the verse, was there such a show of suitors as at Christ’s Kirk on that day, when— 

“ Thair came our kitties (lasses) weshen clene, 

In thair new kirtillis of grey.” 

It 


66 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


upon an imaginative foundation, if lie would invest it with the possession of a claim 
to any particular notice ?—In former times, many of the prebendaries’ houses stood 
in near proximity to the Bell of the Brae, and one of them, at least, looked down 
upon it from the east side of the High Street. As to the other buildings which for 
centuries lined the thoroughfares of the town, we may believe them to have been, in 
general, mere cottages, thatched with heath or straw, and rarely pretending to any¬ 
thing like external respectability. During the sixteenth century, it is probable that 
houses formed of wood and plaster began to be not uncommon, and in many respects, 
to give an improved appearance to the streets. From the specimens of such as still 
remain in the narrow closes of the Saltmarket or Gallowgate, we can form but a poor 
opinion of what seems to have been the really pleasing effect produced by the quaint- 
looking stvle of architecture introduced from the union of these materials. But when 
we call to view the picture of some broad and airy thoroughfare, bounded on either 
side by a perspective line of these old-fashioned structures, with their projecting floors, 
and odd, irregular casements, the scene presents itself to “ fancy’s eye ’ with somewhat 
of an engaging aspect, and from the force, we shall suppose, of preconceived ideas, 
seems to unite itself in a peculiar manner with the tastes, habits, and even feelings 
of the age to which, this peculiar style of building had belonged—the daily life, in 
short, of the men who had discovered that it was possible to roof in their houses to 
rather wider an extent than it had been in their power to lay off the foundations. 

With regard to the houses represented in the plate—of which those shown in the 
lower division formed a continuation of the others, extending down the west side of the 
High Street—it may be stated that many years have elapsed since they were all de¬ 
molished, to give place to the plain, honest, patriotic-looking buildings, as Cobbett 
would have styled them, which now elevate their unpretending, business-like succes¬ 
sion of “ stories’’ at the Bell of the Brae. The spot where they stood, has, within 
the last fifty or sixty years, been brought by frequent cuttings to a greatly reduced 
level,'"' so that the former crowning point of the height no longer “ bears the bell,” 
but must yield to the now superior elevation of a part of the Rottenrow. It is difficult 
to say what mav have been the actual ao-e of these old houses, and, as all have 
vanished without leaving a trace behind, it might seem a waste of time to begin 
balancing the question as to whether thev had been raised two or four centuries ago. 
W e are inclined, however, to consider them as having been erected in comparatively 
modern times—over the ashes perhaps of some of the wooden structures previously 
mentioned—and, when the disappearance of that class of buildings is alluded to, it 
certainly may be done, as old annalists lead us to believe, coupled in general with the 
idea of a sudden extinction in flame and smoke. 

* The first improvement seems to have occurred in 1733, when the Bell of the Brae was lowered four feet.— Cleland’s 
Annals, L, 333. 




OU) liOCS*; liTlT?15';' HICK STREET.184,6. OUJ CHURCH HT UTKLK PACT CRT LAW,, 

■ OPPOSITE COLLEGE CHURCH TAKEN DOWN IN 1845. 


















































































































































OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


67 


THE BLACKFRIARS’, OR COLLEGE CHURCH; 

BACK HOUSE IN HIGH STREET, &c. 

A LTHOUGH a building of no great antiquity, and one to which hut little interest 
is attached, the mention of the Blackfriars’ Church will naturally suggest a 
reference to times, with which the edifice has, in itself, no actual connexion, hut 
which have, nevertheless, left behind them many associations, calculated, in an an¬ 
tiquarian point of view, to bestow an interest both upon the existing church and on 
the locality around it. We allude, of course, to those periods in our domestic annals 
when the Friars Preachers had their establishment in Glasgow, and in which a much 
older structure than the present presented its front to the High Street, under the 
name of the “ Black Freyr Kyrk.” 

The order of Saint Dominic—a brotherhood of mendicant preachers, which was 
first formally sanctioned by the Apostolic See in 1216—is believed to have obtained 
a footing in Scotland about the year 1233 ; and within twenty years from that date 
—that is, prior to the death of Alexander the Second, or at an early period in the 
reign of his successor—to have had a monastery established in this city. Styled, 
from the colour of their habits, Black Friars,"' the members of this fraternity met, 
soon after its foundation, with a wide-spread popularity, in consequence—to borrow 
from the learned and interesting preface to the “ Book of our Lady College”—of 
their order appealing to the favour of the multitude, “ not less by its zeal, learning, 
and devotion, and its stern self-denial in renouncing all worldly possessions—trusting 
wholly for support to the voluntary alms of the faithful—than by the vehemence with 
which its members inveighed against the clergy of the church, and all other religious 
societies, by the confidence with which they boasted themselves the only ministers 
who proclaimed ‘ the gospeland, by the enthusiastic eloquence and flattering 
doctrine of their sermons, which, delivered in the fields, and on the streets, and by 
the waysides, were filled by such devices as never fail, in any age, to gain the many.” 

For about seventy or eighty years after their introduction into Glasgow the Friars 
Preachers seem to have honestly adhered to that fundamental rule of the order which 
enjoined the burthen of voluntary poverty ; but, subsequent to the beginning of the 
fourteenth century, they appear to have become as desirous as the rest of mankind to 
be made possessors of whatever worldly riches the chances of fortune might cast in 
their way; and thus—by means of numerous grants from the crown, the nobility, 
and others—they became at last so very comfortably situated with regard to the 
means of easy enjoyment, and the pleasures of a life of inaction, as to call forth 

* This may refer to after times. In 1219 they adopted, it is said, a white dress, similar to that of the Carthusians, but 
at a later period they were undoubtedly habited in black. 


68 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


from George Buchanan the satirical remark, that it was difficult to say whether they 
should have been styled “ Fratres Mendicantes, or Manducantes,”—brothers men¬ 
dicants, or gluttons.* 

Such were the men who, centuries ago, might be seen perambulating our streets, 
clad in black gowns of woollen cloth, their heads sometimes ensconced in the apper¬ 
taining cowl or hood, or at others, uncovered, and displaying the shaven crown—their 
feet bare, and their waists girdled with a piece of cord, whence hung the ever-present 
rosary; the use of which is said to have been first introduced by the founder of their 
order—Saint Dominic himself. They did not, we believe, openly solicit, but were 
ever prepared to receive alms ; in return for which—if not at times with a view 
to additional gleanings—they were always ready to give their attendance at the 
bed-sides of the sick and the dying. In many instances their ministrations may 
have doubtless been grateful to the afflicted, and on that account they were not, 
perhaps, to be altogether regarded as mere drones of the hive. 

It is probable that the monastery which they originally possessed in Glasgow was 
situated not far from what latterly became known as the Greyfriars’ Wynd.f At an 
after period, however, the Dominicans appear to have erected cloisters adjoining to 
their church—which stood from an early date where now stands the structure repre¬ 
sented in the plate—and to have eventually abandoned their old quarters for those 
which, at the period of the Deformation, were situated “ in magno vico tendente ab 
Ecclesia Metropolitana vsque ad Crucem Foralem ”—in the great street leading from 
the Metropolitan Church to the Market Cross. 

As may be supposed, the publication of the Charters of the Friars’ Preachers of 
Glasgow has thrown much new and curious light upon their history, as well as on the 
annals of their conventual buildings and church. It would, probably, prove tedious 
to the reader, were we to dwell at any length upon the contents of these documents ; 
but a brief glance at some portion of their contents may not prove uninteresting. 

With regard to the members of the order established in this locality, it may, for 
instance, not be thought unworthy of remark that, in 1252, letters patent had been 
issued in the name of Alexander the Third—then a boy of eleven or twelve years of 

* See “ Book of our Lady College preface, p. xliii. 

f Ibid. p. xl. We venture the question without having had leisure to make any particular inquiry into the subject_hut can 

it be, that, notwithstanding what has been generally supposed, the order of St. Francis never had an establishment here, but that 
for some length of time, and after adopting the white or grey habit in 1219, the brotherhood of St. Dominic had been popularlv 
styled the Grey Friars ? Should such have been the case, it is easy to suppose that the first monastery which thev possessed in 
this city had stood near the site of the present Shuttle Street, and that it was this building M‘Ure refers to, as “ the convent of 
the Greyfriars,” the garden of which, he says, had extended over a place called “ Craignaught,”—( Vide Edit. 1830, p. 57, and 
note,)—a mass of rock, since removed, and which was situated about the spot where College Street now terminates on the west. 
At what period the black dress was assumed, we cannot at present say, but the term Blackfriars is not, we think, to be found 
applied to the Dominicans of Glasgow, at any very remote date. The Grey Friars which Cleland refers to, were none other 
than the Dominicans. ( Vide Enum., Ac., p. 164). 


OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


69 


age—to the bailies of Dumbarton, (“ prepositis suis cle Dunbretan,”)—“ commanding 
them to pay the sum of ten pounds yearly, from the rents of that burgh to the Friars’ 
Preachers of Glasgow, in lieu of the King’s obligation to find them in food for one 
day in every week. ’ From another document, it would appear that, amid all the 
strife and turmoil of a subsequent age, this mendicant brotherhood had succeeded in 
maintaining a tolerably comfortable position ; as, in the year 1301 their convent was 
discovered to afford the most suitable quarters which could probably be found for 
the accommodation of Edward the First when he visited this city—during what 
then seemed to be his successful progress towards the final subjugation of Scotland. f 
At a period somewhat later, the order seems to have found a valuable patron in King 
Robert Bruce, who, in 1315 —the year after the Battle of Bannockburn—bestowed 
on their monastery at Glasgow the annual sum of twenty merks, payable from his 
rents at Cadyow, near Hamilton. David the Second was likewise a benefactor of no 
mean account, as was his immediate successor, the first of the Stewarts. 

Of the actual position of the buildings which they originally occupied in Glasgow, 
we have, in the documents referred to, no very distinct information ; but it would ap¬ 
pear, as previously mentioned, that these had been situated in the neighbourhood of 
what is now called Shuttle Street. This seems more than probable, from the fact, 
in connexion with other circumstances, that in 1304, “ Robert Wischard,” Bishop 
of Glasgow, had granted to the Friars Preachers, a spring termed “ The Meadow 
Well,” with the right of conducting it into their cloister from its source in the Dean- 
side. I Every native of the city may possibly have heard of such things as the 
Meadow Well § and the Deanside Brae ; but there may be many a one who, in this 
age of progress, would find himself at a loss for a reply if called upon to say in what 
particular part of the city they are to be found; hence it may not be thought entirely 
supererogatory should it be mentioned that the waters of the first have, at the present 
day, an outlet on the south side of George Street, near the corner of Bunn’s Wynd, 
and that the second forms the southern slope which descends from the Rottenrow to 
the eastward of Portland Street. 

The period of the supposed removal of the establishment of the Friars Preachers 
from one locality to the other, cannot apparently, be ascertained; but, it would 
seem, that, by the time of James the First, the buildings which they occupied had 
been situated in the High Street. From the beginning of the fifteenth century, the 
donations made to the brotherhood, may be said to have received a considerable 

* See “ Book of our Lady College,” pi-eface, p. xl. 

f Ibid., p. xli.—We also learn that the hospitality of the Friars Preachers of Glasgow was requited with the payment 
of six shillings, (vj. solidi.) 

J Ibid., p. xliii. 

§ Now generally known as the Deanside Well. 

S 


70 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


increase. The following are, perhaps, the most deserving of notice, on account of 
the curious particulars the} 7 record. 

In 1419, John Stewart, Lord of Darnley,”' granted to the convent, by a charter 
dated at Incliinnan, an annual pension of two bolls of meal, from the mill of 
“ Dernele,” and two bolls of wheat, with two of barley, from the “ maynis” of “ Cruk- 
istoune.” In 1333, his son and successor, Sir Allan Stewart, bestowed on the Friars 
Preachers of Glasgow a perpetual annuity of twenty shillings Scots from the lands of 
Cathcart, in satisfaction, it would appear, of the sum of a hundred crowns of gold 
lent to his father from the common purse of the convent.—In 1434, the Prior, Friar 
Oswald, in consideration of a rood of ground on the east side of the High Street, 
conveyed to the convent by John Flemying of Cowglen, undertook on the part of 
himself and his brethren, to pay ten shillings yearly, and to find stabling for two 
horses, on all occasions when the said John Flemyng should think proper “ tyll cum 
tyll do hys erandis or mak residens within the town and, moreover, the Prior like¬ 
wise became bound, should the said individual ever desire to take up his abode in the 
city, to build for his accommodation “ an honest hall chamir and butler with a yard for 
to setcale in,” etc.I—In 1454, “ Jolme Stewart, the first provest that was in the cite of 
Glasgw” granted to the Prior and convent, a house on the west side of the “ Wal- 
cargat,"J a rig of land in the palyhard croft, (near St. Thanew’s chapel) and ten 
shillings of annual income secured upon a house in the High Street —(“ the Kyngis 
streyte at strekis fra the Cathedrale Kyrke of Glasgu wn tyll the Mercat Cors of the 
samyn,”—on condition that upon every Friday of the year, “ eftir at the covent messe 
be done,” they should perform at St. Katherine’s alter, a mass for his own soul, the 
souls of his ancestors and those of all Christians; and that annually, on the anniver¬ 
sary of his decease, they should cause St. Mungo’s bell to be rung through the town, 
“ Placebo and Dirige” to be chanted in the choir, and a mass to be sung at Saint 
Katherine’s alter, by the whole convent, every Friar receiving “ sex penyis and a 
galown of the best sale ale of the town to the conventis collaciown” ; and that finally 
they should grant him the right of sepulture in their church, in a vault to be built 
by him at the north end of the altar of Saint Katherine.§—In 1478 the Prior, with 
consent of the convent, conveyed a plot of the adjacent ground to Master Robert 
Forrester, on condition that, in the house which he was then building, he should 
construct a gate and passage to the Friar’s church, with a niche or window above the 

* In 1419, John Stewart of Darnley accompanied the Earls of Douglas and Buchan with their army of 7000 Scots to 
France, and it was probably, as remarked in the volume before us, when on the eve of his departure that he bestowed the above 
gifts on the Friars of Glasgow. He acquired high distinction in the French wars, and was killed in battle near Orleans in 1429. 

f Vide “ Book of our Lady College,” preface, p. xliv., xlvii. 

t Now the Saltmarket; the word Walcar, or V alker, signified a fuller of cloth. In Latin instruments this street is styled 
“ Via Fullonum.” 

§ Preface, p. li. 


OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


71 


entrance, for the reception of an image of the Beloved Virgin.—In various documents, 
houses are referred to as situated in “ the Black Friar’s Wynd or South Vennel of the 
brethren, which serves to show that the buildings of their monastery were situated 
to the north of the present Blackfriars’ Street, formerly known as the Blackfriars’ 
Wynd. As our limits, however, are somewhat circumscribed, we shall not for the 
present detain the reader with any additional extracts, although the field from which 
we borrow is sufficiently ample. 

The Church of the Blackfriars, referred to by M f Ure, as having been “ the most 
ancient building of Gothick kind ol work that could be seen in the whole kingdom”— 
was erected about the middle of the thirteenth century ; as among the charters of the 
order there exists a Bull of Innocent IV., dated at Lyons in 1246, and remitting a 
certain amount of penance to all the faithful who should contribute to the completion 
of the church, and other edifices, which the Friars Preachers of Glasgow had begun 
to build;* consequently, the king’s architect, Mr. Miln, was somewhat mistaken, 
when in 1638, he declared that this structure was, for antiquity, without its parallel 
in Scotland, and that the Cathedral was, in comparison, but a thing of yesterday.! 
It appears to have been built in a plain Gothic style, and to have had a spire at its 
western extremity. In one of Slezer’s plates, there is, what seems intended for a 
representation of this church—a work of art which impresses the mind with no very 
exalted opinion of its appearance ; but the drawing is executed in an inferior manner, 
and gives, perhaps, a very incorrect idea of the original. We are not aware that any 
other attempt at a view of the building, is now in existence.! 

With the progress of reforming opinions, the fortunes of the Friars Preachers 
experienced a rapid decline, and, amid various other indications of a coming change, 
there was a note of warning sounded, when, in 1553, the civil court determined against 
the plea that the precincts of their convent should be recognised as a place of 
sanctuary. Some years later, and when the curtain was about to fall for ever upon 
a far from immaculate stage, the prior, Andrew Leitch, made an effort to save 
some of the conventual property from the general wreck which menaced the religious 
houses, by executing a deed, conveying to a burgess of the city the garden grounds 
by which the monastery was surrounded, but this deed was a few years afterwards 
formally set aside. In 1566, by royal charter, dated at Edinburgh, the Friars’ 
“ place,” with its endowments, and all other ecclesiastical revenues within the city, 
were bestowed by Queen Mary—it may be believed, with no great good-will—upon 
the provost, bailies, council, and community, for the support of the ministers of the 

* Ibid. p. xxxix. 

f See M‘Ure, Edit. 1830, p. 50—Dr. Cleland states that it had been built “ about” the year 840 !—See his “ Enumera- 
tion, &c.," 1823, p. 165. 

| According to tradition, a Druid grove and temple had anciently existed near the spot where it stood.— M‘Ure, p. 3. 


72 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


gospel, and for the erection of an hospital for the poor and infirm of Glasgow. In the 
year 1572-3, the greater portion of the rights thus acquired by the municipality were 
transferred to the College, but, in consequence of the legality of Friar Leitch’s at- 
tempted alienation of a part of the property, being, at that period, a question still 
undecided, it was some years later before the principal and professors were put into 
possession of the entire grant'"'. 

We learn from the judgment of court against the validity of the deed mentioned, 
that the destruction of the Blackfriars’ Monastery had been effected in the summer 
of 1560 ; when, according to the original, “ the hail Places of Freiris within this 
realme wes demolischit and cassin downe and the conventis (brethren) quhilkis maid 
residence within the samin wer dispersit.” In 1578-9, the property transferred to 
the College is described as “ the Great Yaird sumtyme pertening to the Freiris 
Predicatouris of Glasgw, with the small yairdis adiacent thairto as the West Freir 
Yarde, the Colhowse, and Closter Knot, the Paradyce Yairdis f uver and neather, 
with the remanent small yardis adiacent thairto .” J 

The Church of the Blackfriars, after surviving for rather more than a hundred 
years the destruction of the adjacent cloisters, was, unfortunately, on the morning of 
the 29th October, 1670, § struck by lightning, which, according to Law, “rent the 
steeple of the said Church from top to bottom, and tirred the sclattes oft’ it, and 
brake down the gavills in the two ends of it and fyred it, but was quenched after¬ 
wards by menleaving it, in short, a perfect ruin, in which condition it seems to 
have been allowed to remain for a number of years, no longer, of course, in a fit state 
to be occupied as a place of worship. That it had previously been made use of as a 
Presbyterian Kirk is manifest from various entries met with in the records of the 
town. Some few of these are taken notice of below ; but many others could be added 
did our limits permit. |j 

* “ Boole of our Lady College, Sfc.” Pref. p. lxv. 

f Gardens.— Ibid. p. Ixvii. 

I In 1635, tlie Ckurcli was re-transferred by the College to the town, as it was then found to require a greater amount of 
repair than the former could afford to be at the expense of. These repairs the civic authorities undertook to effect; and as they 
had been so liberal as to pay the College the sum of 2000 merks to aid in the erection of the University buildings, the transfer of 
the Church was regarded as not more than was proper under the circumstances.— Ibid. p. lxix., Note" 

§ Law's Memorials, p. 33. 

|| Cleland states that, in 1622, the Blackfriars’ Church was repaired, and opened as a Presbyterian place of worship._ 

Enumeration, &c., 1823, p. 175. We find, however, that it had been put in a state of repair "so early as 1588, and that 
this was renewed in 1605. In 1587, the Session appointed sermons to be preached daily in the “ Colledge Kirk,” as it had 
begun to be styled.—Vide Book of our Lady College, preface, p. Ixvii., &c. 

In 1643, “Georg Duncane of Borrowfield,” gave six hundred merks for the purchase of a bell for the Blackfriars’ 
Church.— Memorabilia, p. 124. 

In the same year, the “ lait bailleis.roquestit that ane or twa of the windows, on the south syd of the Black Frier 

Kirk, nerest the east gavell, the staines therein may be taken downe, and build aganc with glas, so far as the moneys will dae 
with diligence.— Ibid. p. 128. 

In 1670, March 12—It is ordered that the bell in the Blackfriars’ Steeple should be taken down and be sent to Holland to 
be re-cast. This appears to have been accomplished by the 1st October of the same year, under which date the city Treasurer 
takes credit for the sum of £232—“ for transporting and home bringing the Blackfrier Kirk bell, and casting thereof in Holland. ’ ’ 
— Ibid. pp. 285, 292.—Within a month, therefore, after the new bell had arrived, was heard that terrible “ thunderclap” which 
laid the church in ruins. These extracts show that M‘Ure is wrong in placing the date of its destruction in 1668. 



OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


73 


Nearly thirty years had elapsed after the sudden destruction of the Blackfriars’ 
Church, before any decided steps were taken to provide another building calculated 
to supply its place. The aspect of affairs, in general, was probably far from propi¬ 
tious, during the interval, towards the building of “ Kirks”; but, as the days of per¬ 
secution passed, and the star of the Revolution ascended in the political firmament, 
to dispel from among the citizens of Glasgow “ the winter of their discontent,” 
things began to assume a different appearance, and, amid other evidences of increased 
activity on the part of the authorities, it was, in the course of a few years, resolved 
upon, that a new place of worship should be raised, where the ancient fane of the 
Friars Preachers had so long exhibited its crumbling walls. 

The foundation stone of the new edifice—the one represented in the plate—was 
laid on the 19th June, 1699, and the church was opened for public worship on Sun¬ 
day, the 18th January, 1702.“* Nothing particular can be said of this building, which 
has little to recommend it, either in an architectural or antiquarian point of view; 
but it may here be worthy of observation, that, when the accounts were closed, in 
November 1701, it was found that the cost of its erection amounted to <£21308 : 3s. 8 d. 
Scots, or about £1800 sterling!—a large sum, it must be allowed, for the era of 
William the Third. It stands, as is well-known, on a slight ascent, in near proxi¬ 
mity to the College, at the distance of about 250 feet from the line of the High 
Street, and is environed by a burial ground, which, towards the east, is bounded by 
the College Gardens. From the day when it was first opened, down to the present 
period, nothing of any moment seems to have occurred in connexion with its history. 
Week by week, month by month, and year by year, as time rolled on, has many a 
successive generation assembled within its walls—in youth or age, observant followers 
of that, in Scotland, early imprinted duty, which calls forth her people to the house 
of prayer “ from hamlet and from hall” when the day of weekly rest has arrived, 
and when the 

“ Solemn knell, from yonder ancient pile, 

Fills all the air, inspiring joyful awe.” 


On the same sheet with the two views of the Blackfriars Chuch, we have the 
sketch of an old house, situated within a court, upon the opposite side of the High 
Street. This is a building of no great age—dating most probably from about the 
period of the Union, or somewhat later. From its appearance, we should be led to 
infer that it had been built much about the same time with the front range ot the 

* Cleland, Stat . Tables, 1823, p. 185. f Memorabilia, p. 406. 

T 





74 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


Duke’s Lodgings in the Drygate. The ground floor is said to be arched in a very 
substantial manner; and we have been informed that the house was at one period 
occupied as an Inn—the favourite resort perhaps of many a country laird and sub¬ 
stantial citizen, in those days when rum punch had not yet supplanted claret, and 
when wigs and cocked hats commanded the diurnal veneration of “ mine host.” We 
can say nothing as to the particulars of its history; but it may well be believed—if 
ever there was a time when the promise of abundant cheer swung like a signal of 
welcome over its opened portal—that this now forgotten edifice has, like many a 
compeer, had its day of public notoriety and fame—although now all, with it, is 
“ fortune faithless and a record blank.” 


The dark-looking structure represented by the side of the above, is the plain old 
Meeting-House which stood till within a few years past in what was the narrow pas¬ 
sage leading from North Albion Street, called Inkle Factory Lane—a thoroughfare 
which has now merged into the continuation of College Street. This was the first 
chapel in Glasgow occupied by a congregation in connexion with the Associate 
Presbytery, afterwards the Secession Synod. It was erected in 1741-42,* and was 
opened for public worship under the ministrations of the Rev. James Fisher, one of 
the leaders in the movement of separation. The Secession Church had its rise, it 
may be observed, in 1733, when Ebenezer Erskine and some other divines felt them¬ 
selves called upon to withdraw from the Church of Scotland, on a disputed question, 
regarding the election of clergymen to vacant parishes. The early Seceders of Glasgow 
had their first place of meeting at Crosshill, near Cathcart; but subsequently, and 
until the chapel in Inkle Factory Lane was built, they assembled on a vacant piece 
of ground on the north side of the Rottenrow, on which a tent was erected.! The 
congregation continued to meet in the old chapel till the year 1821, when the hand¬ 
some edifice in North Albion Street was completed, in which it now assembles, under 
the ministrations of the Rev. Dr. King. 

After the building was abandoned as a Secession Church, it was for some time, 
we believe, occupied by the religious sect styled Infinites. Its demolition occurred 
about two years ago. 

* Cleland’s Statistics, 1832, p. *73. f Pagan's History of Glasgow, p. 186. 








THE OLD SARACEN’S HEAD INN, NORTH SIDE OE GALLOWGATE ,184-5. 



r : * ^ 

Drawn jb. 3 LaiHoffraphcd by 


Allan & Ferguson, 8" Argyll Street 




OLD HOUSES ON NORNH SIDE OF GALLOWGATE,NEARSPOUTMOUTH, 184-6 









































































OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


f"» r 

/ 5 


THE OLD SARACEN’S HEAD INN. 

T O the reposing traveller who, at the present day, looks forth from amid the com¬ 
forts of his quiet and well-ordered hotel, upon the sylvan area of George 
Square, it may afford matter of surprise to he told, that in the handsome city of 
Glasgow, which commanded, as already mentioned, the praise of so many visitants, 
there existed upwards of a century ago nothing which, in the modern sense of the 
word, could be properly called an Inn. Of taverns and ale-houses there does not 
appear to have been any deficiency; but of establishments intended for the accom¬ 
modation of strangers there were, apparently, none to be met with superior to those 
kept by the class of men called “ Stablers,” whose projecting signboards so generally 
gave promise of good entertainment for “ man and beast.” The capital itself was, 
indeed, at the period referred to, in no degree better supplied—showing how long the 
people of Scotland had remained behind their southern neighbours in all that related 
to personal comfort and the general amenities of life. 

To remedy this state of affairs, the Magistrates and Council resolved, in the year 
1754, to encourage the design of Robert Tenncnt gardener and vintner in Glasgow, 
of erecting an hotel that might be creditable to the city; and in the following year 
he completed the building which is represented in the plate, and which is described 
in a document of the period, as a “ Great Inn, all of good hewn stone.” 

The piece of ground feued to Tennent by the authorities, for the erection of the 
edifice, was situated immediately without the site of the Gallowgate Port—one ot 
the ancient entrances to the city, taken down in 1749—and appertained to the com¬ 
munity as having been the churchyard attached in former days to a Roman Catholic 
chapel, known as “ Little Saint Mungo’s.’’—How many of those who had indulged 
themselves, in the gayer moments of life, within the walls of the once famous 
“ Saracen’s Head,” had ever known that its foundations rested among the bones ot 
departed generations ? How many of those who now hurry along its crowded neigh¬ 
bourhood, are aware that the imposing ceremonies of mass and requiem had once 
been engaged in there ?—This chapel was built in the year 1500, by David Cunning¬ 
ham, Archdeacon of Argyll, and Official of Glasgow, as may be learned from the 
Chartulary of the See, printed for the Maitland Club. '' It is there referred to as 
standing beyond the walls of the city, near to the trees called the trees ot Saint 
Kentigern; and the same document gives particulars of the various lands and tene¬ 
ments which were set apart by its founder for the endowment ot this place ot worship. 

The ancient chapel having been long numbered among the things that were 
and no pictorial record of its appearance having been preserved—it might be expected 

* Vol. ii. p. 501_Sec, likewise, the preface to the Book of our Lady College, & c. 


76 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


that we should now abandon any farther reference towards it, and at once return to 
its existing successor, the former “ Saracen’s Head;” there are one or two particu¬ 
lars, however, with regard to the original building and locality where it stood, on 
which it may be permitted us briefly to dwell.—From what has been already stated, 
it may be inferred that, in the time of King James the Fourth, the external vicinity 
of the Gallowgate Port was a very rural spot, and that, from the circumstance 
of the trees which waved over it having been dedicated to Saint Kentigern, there 
must have existed some traditionary connection between that particular locality in the 
vicinity of the Molendinar rivulet, and the history of the early apostle of Christianity 
to the people of Strathclyde. The erection there of a chapel bearing his name was 
owing, no doubt, to a current belief in the sanctity of the place; and, that it had, in 
reality, been hallowed from a remote antiquity, by many associations of a reverential 
character, is now abundantly certain, owing to the considerable access of light which 
has of recent years been thrown upon the annals of our See. 

From the “ Offices” of Kentigern, a formulary of devotion, compiled by Bishop 
Elpliingston for the use of his church at Aberdeen, we learn that the Saint, while 
residing as an exile in Wales, was directed by angelic agency to proceed to Glasgow, 
and that on his approach, in obedience to the mandate, towards the place, he was met 
by Redrath the King, who, accompanied by his chiefs and a great multitude of people, 
had gone forth to welcome his return. On this, the narrative continues, the venerable 
traveller began to address the people in his character of an apostle of the truth; but, 
owing to the numbers present, and the great pressure of the crowd, it happened that 
he could neither be properly seen nor heard, when, of a sudden, the ground on which 
he stood was miraculously elevated into a little knoll or hillock, so that all were 
eventually able to behold the speaker, and to listen to his words. In commemoration, 
it is stated, of this occurrence, a chapel dedicated to him was at an after period 
erected on the spot. 

The reader must form his own opinion with regard to the value of the story as a 
contribution to our historical lore, but we may, perhaps, be allowed to point his 
attention to the curious degree of traditionary interest with which it invests the 
immediate site and neighbourhood of the old Saracen’s Head Inn. In the first place, 
it would appear—if the conjectures on the subject be correct—that the little eminence 
so wondrously upraised has never been required to return to its original level, but 
may be observed at the present day in the ascent of the Dowhill. It was on the 
slope of this inconsiderable rising ground, which is situated in close proximity to 
the site of the Gallowgate Port, that the chapel erected by Archdeacon Cunningham 
actually stood. This religious edifice may very probably have been raised on the 
spot occupied in earlier times by the building mentioned in the “ Offices ” of Ken¬ 
tigern, and the adjacent ground—first secularly trenched upon to receive the founda- 


OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


77 


tions of the building shown in the plate, may, at different periods of time, have been 
set apart for the burial of the dead. Altogether, from the preceding account of his 
return to Glasgow, coupled with the various circumstances which connect the name 
of Saint Kentigern with the locality of the Dowhill, it seems by no means unlikely 
that he had, on some great occasion, thought proper to address his audience from 
that little height, although the story of its miraculous elevation may be ascribed to 
the fancy of an inventive monkish zeal. 

In addition to what has been said, it may be mentioned that, in the Booh of our 
Lady College, already referred to, we find reference made to a spring of water situated 
in the above neighbourhood, and called Saint Kentigern’s Well. In connexion with 
this, it is worthy of remark, that the court-yard of the Saracen’s Head Inn pos¬ 
sessed a spring-well unequalled, perhaps, in the city, for the purity and abundance 
of its supply; and, so highly was it prized, that in the title deeds of many of the 
neighbouring proprietors, the privilege of drawing water from this source is expressly 
guaranteed. 

Although the Chapel of Saint Mungo was probably much injured during the 
storms of the Reformation, and its churchyard abandoned as a place of sepulture, it 
does not appear to have fallen into absolute ruin till long afterwards, as we find by 
the Session Records that in the year 1593 it had been put into a state of repair, and 
was made use of as an hospital for the reception of invalids. We again hear of it 
under the date of 1600, as “ St. Mungo’s Kirk on the north side of the Gallowgate,” 
from which period all traces of its history seem to be lost, although the adjoining 
churchyard is more than once referred to in subsequent times—as, for instance, in 
1647, Avlien, by order of the Town Council, a “ dyke ” is directed to be built at 
“ Litle St Mungoes Kirk yaird, neir the Gallowgait Port, and the Port tliair to be 
calsiet.”* This churchyard was, as has been before observed, in existence when the 
ground was feued for the erection of the Inn; but as, in the description of the pro¬ 
perty thus transferred, no mention is made of the chapel itself, we may infer that the 
last traces of its walls had disappeared prior to the year 1754.| 

It cannot but be interesting to reflect on the appearance of this ancient burial- 
place in its latter days.—Fixed in solitary desolation among the dwellings of an in¬ 
creasing community, it lay a stranger, as it were, to the place, and to the associations 
of the people ; and, although the respect for the depositories of the dead which prevails 
in Scotland had long preserved it from the hands of desecration, there could, at the 
period we mention, no longer have existed among the citizens any of those feelings with 


* Memorabilia, p. 153. 

f The following is the phraseology employed in the conveyance of the property from the Magistrates to Tennent, anno 
1754 ,—“ That old yeard or burying-place, called Little St. Mungo’s, lying immediately without and next adjacent to the place 
where the Gallowgate or East Port of Glasgow, lately taken down, was situated.” 

V 


78 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


regard to tlie dust entombed below, which might attract the steps of the occasional 
mourner towards the spot, impressed by tender recollections of the loved and lost. 
The eyes that were wont to moisten over its graves had long been closed in the 
sleep of death; and for many a generation there had no one beheld the turning of a 
single green sod in the old “ Kirk-yaird.” According to the statements of a gentle¬ 
man, once a member of the magistracy, who died some time since at a good old age, 
this burial-place was, within the recollection of his informants, inclosed by a curious 
old-fashioned wall, with “ boles in it,” and was overgrown by rank grass and nettles ; 
and here, it would seem—amid the tombstones of former days—the idle schoolboy 
might often be found at play. 

To return to the Saracen’s Head Inn, the building, as already mentioned, was 
completed in the year 1755, and its doors were then, we may conclude, thrown wide 
to all who might wish to inspect the arrangements of the establishment and par¬ 
take of the good things provided by its spirited proprietor. The hotel immediately 
rose into favour with the better class of the citizens, as well as with the noblemen 
and gentlemen residing in the neighbourhood; and many were the scenes of festivity 
beheld within its walls. Besides spacious dining-rooms where our jovial punch-loving 
ancestors could luxuriate in metropolitan comfort, there was attached to the building 
a handsome ball-room, in which the “ beauty and fashion ” of the last century were 
wont to assemble.* It was in the Saracen’s Head that the Lords of Justiciary 
resided during their visits to Glasgow, and to it the celebrated “ sporting” Duke of 
Hamilton was a frequent visitor; for nearly forty years, indeed, the house maintained 
a highly respectable character, and only yielded at last to the influence of a fashion 
that was pointing westward. 

Among the principal events of a somewhat interesting nature which may be men¬ 
tioned in connection with this now neglected building, was the assembling before it, 
in September 1768, of the imposing Masonic procession which proceeded from its 
portals for the purpose of laying the foundation stone of the first Jamaica-Street Bridge. 
Great was the event of that day both to high and low ; and if the public-spirited chief 
magistrate of the time, Mr. George Murdoch, was vain enough to be on that occa¬ 
sion the first of a long line of provosts to assume the golden chain of office, he 
had, in truth, no slight reason for the display of some honest pride—going forth, as 
he did, amid the acclamations of his fellow-citizens, to take, as it were, the initiative 
in the work that was to form a new link of communication between the opposite 
banks of the Clyde. Nor must we forget the sojourn of Dr. Johnson at this hotel, 
on returning from his visit to the Western Isles. The reader will probably remember 
Boswell’s amusing account of the great lexicographer’s arrival at the Saracen’s Head, 
when, in high glee at once more reaching the haunts of civilization, he threw himself 

* The building is still in existence, and is now used as a chapel. 


OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


79 


into a seat, and with a leg resting on each side of the grate, ejaculated with mock 
solemnity, “ Here am I, an Englishman, sitting by a coal fire ! ” 

This hotel was, as may be supposed, a great posting house in its day. The stables 
connected with it contained upwards of sixty stalls; and at a period when the public 
stage-coach was a rarity, it was from these stables that many a “ retour ” (return) 
chaise was, through the bellman’s necessary agency, advertised to start, as we learn 
from the poetical remains of Dougal Graham, who, in allusion to the duties of that 
functionary, informs us that 

“ The Bull Inn, and the Saracen, 

Were both well serv’d with him at e’en, 

As oft times we have heard and seen 
Him call retour 
For E’nburg, Greenock, and Irvine, 

At any hour.” 

Here, it may be added, the first Mail Coach from London that had ever arrived 
at Glasgow, drew up on the 7tli July 1788. So great was the interest excited on this 
occasion, that the proprietor of the Inn, accompanied by a crowd of horsemen, rode 
out as far as the Clyde Iron Works to welcome its approach. According to Jones’s 
Glasgow Directory for 1789, the Diligence for Edinburgh started at 9 o’clock morning, 
or at any other hour that the first two passengers might agree on; and that for Ayr, 
at 10 o’clock forenoon—both from (t James Buchanan’s Saracen’s Head.” 

The year 1791 beheld a decline in the fortunes of this well-known Inn; and 
soon after it was sold to Mr. William Miller of Slatefield, who converted it into 
dwelling-houses and shops, and gave it the appearance which it now presents; he 
likewise built that addition on its eastern side which is seen to the right of the plate, 
adjoining the entry into Saracen’s Lane. Before these alterations were made, it 
presented a much more respectable architectural appearance than now—-the two 
wings projecting in proper keeping from roof to basement, while the central division 
was fronted by a broad flight of steps which formed at once a handsome and conve¬ 
nient approach."* During the operations carried on by Mr. Miller, many startling- 
memorials of the ancient sanctity of the place were met with; and as great quanti¬ 
ties of human bones made their appearance amid the sandy soil below, the workmen 
engaged were left, we may imagine, to ponder in some amazement at what must 
have appeared to them a matter no less singular than mysterious. 

There are two curious relics of the Old Saracen’s Head still in existence, which 
may, possibly, not be thought unworthy of a passing notice. One of these is the 
gigantic punch-bowl which had graced the head of the table on important occasions. 
This bowl is capable of holding several gallons, and bears all the marks of having 
seen long and trying service; in the interior is depicted a representation of the City 
Arms, accompanied by the motto, “ Success to the Town of Glasgow.” It is hardly 

* The stones with which the Inn was built were chiefly taken from the ruins of the Episcopal Palace. 


80 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


possible to become sentimental over a punch-bowl—that is, be it understood, when 
we have merely the bowl before us—otherwise there are doubtless many who, on 
looking upon this battered witness of the convivial moments of their ancestors, might 
well incline to turn a sad and pitying eye upon the degenerate littleness of modem 
days. The other tabula naufragii is the sign-board of the Inn—which bears, we 
are told, the model and paternal image of all the Saracens’ Heads that ever waved 
before the wind in the “ west countrie.” The representation is that of a ferocious- 
looking Turk, with scimitar in hand—“ fierce as ten furies,” and terrible as Turk 
could with any propriety be. On the change which came over the condition of the 
original Inn, this specimen of art was removed from its accustomed place, and was 
eventually transferred to a prominent position on the front of another house of public 
entertainment, which arose on the south side of the Gallowgate, to perpetuate the 
name, if not the celebrity, of the Saracen’s Head. 

The Gallowgate Port, once an important feature in the locality, had its eastern 
face in a line with what is now called Great Dowhill Street. It was taken down, as 
previously mentioned, in the year 1749 ; but some traces of its existence were brought 
to light so recently as 1812, when, during the formation of a common-sewer, the 
foundation courses of the ancient gateway were exposed to view; and, singularly 
enough, there was dug up from among these last remains of the building, an uncom¬ 
monly large and antique-looking key—in all probability that which had formerly 
appertained to the eastern gate of the city. This key is certainly one of no ordinary 
description, and is not unworthy of having its appearance preserved in the woodcut 
introduced below.* 

Much more might be said of the old Saracen’s Head, and of the class which lent 
it support, in that age of transition which intervened between the outbreak of “ the 
45” and the era of the French Revolution ; but instead of dwelling upon the subject, 
we must refer the reader to some highly amusing papers, with regard to its former 
frequenters, &c., which have appeared in Chambers Edinburgh Journal,\ the Laird 
of J^ogan, and the Scottish Monthly Magazine, 1836-7 ; to any of which the curious 
in such matters may turn, with the certainty of enjoying a laugh at some of the 
peculiarities which distinguished the grandfathers of the present generation. 



* It was handed over, when discovered, to Mr. John Buchanan of Slatefield; and, along with the punch-howl previously 
mentioned, is now in the possession of his son, Mr. John Buchanan, secretary to the Western Bank of Scotland, to whom this 
work is indebted for many interesting details. 

f Vide No. for June 20, 1840. 




















































































































'/TEW OF THE TRONGATF. OF GLASGOW A HOOT TTTR YR AH i7-,n 


















































OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


81 


HOUSES ON THE NORTH SIDE OF THE GALLOWGATE, 

(Near Spoutmoutii). 

T his range of buildings, situated considerably to the westward of what was the 
original Saracen’s Head Inn, has been made the subject of an illustration, not 
from the possession of anything like an historical claim on our attention, but simply 
because it has been looked upon as a somewhat characteristic specimen of much of 
our old street architecture. At the side of the house to the left of the row there is 
affixed the date of 1714, which plainly tells the age of its erection. The two im¬ 
mediately adjoining belong evidently to a later period; but beyond them may be 
observed the pedimented windows of one of those quaintly ornamented buildings 
which speak of a more ancient tenure of the ground than can be boasted of by any 
of its neighbours. We can say little about it, however, farther than that it seems to 
have been in existence in the year 1666, at which period a conveyance of the ]3ro- 
perty was made in favour of a person who is designated as “ John Thomson, mer¬ 
chant in Glasgow.” Towards the end of last century it belonged to, and was we 
believe occupied by, Mr. Hosier of Barrowfield. The lane or street seen to the 
left, is that known as the Spoutmouth. In 1778 a considerable coachwork existed 
at a short distance to the north-east of these buildings. At a subsequent period 
its inclosure was occupied as a fruit market, and continued to be so till the place of 
sale was transferred to Kent Street. 


THE CROSS AND THE TRONGATE. 

T HE leading features which distinguished the eastern part of the Trongate a cen¬ 
tury ago, are but slightly changed at the present day. The Tolbooth, indeed, is 
gone; the Merchants’ and Trades’ Lands have followed; and the Guard-house no 
longer shows its arched facade in the middle distance: but, with the disappearance 
of these once well-known buildings, the lines of piazzas, and some few changes of 
minor importance, may be summed up the entire amount of modern innovation upon 
that line of street which, in the opinion of many a visitant, has been allowed to 
present a coup d'oeil of a peculiar character, unequalled in any other city of Europe. 

w 




82 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


The drawing before us is copied from an old print, executed some eighty or ninety 
years ago, and has been taken from about the spot where the Market Cross of the 
city formerly stood. As was mentioned a few pages back, in our allusions to 
the “ Bell of the Brae,” it is probable that the Cross had, nominally at least, been 
removed from the higher part of the town to this spot, at a period as early as the episco¬ 
pate of William Rae; at all events, it is certain that such was the case before the 
year 1419, when the Regent Albany was in power, and the rightful sovereign still a 
prisoner in England."' From an early age two lines of road would appear to 
have formed an intersection at this place—the one leading from the first church, or, 
it may be, from the chapel or cell of St. Kentigern, towards the ferry or ford situated 
near what became the southern termination of the “ Fisliersgaitand the other, from 
the Chapel of St. Tenew towards that dedicated to her son, and latterly known as 
Little Saint Mungo’s. As the buildings of the original town began in course of time 
to be extended downwards from the heights of the Rottenrow and Drygate into the 
plain situated between them and the river, these country roads became by degrees 
flanked with cottages, or rather, hovels; and thus were formed, we may believe, the 
first approaches towards the formation of streets along the line of, what may still be 
termed, the leading thoroughfares of the City. To the small houses rudely constructed 
of undressed stones, succeeded in course of time, the more commodious and more 
respectable-looking buildings, which in general presented their gables towards the 
street—their projecting floors supported upon beams of wood; and after these, in 
turn, came the “ stately ” edifices of ashlar, with their plain substantial fronts resting 
upon the massy foundations of the pillared arcades. 

Of the four streets which meet at the Cross, we find, as might be expected, fre¬ 
quent mention in various old documents recently brought to light. The High Street 
appears to have, for a long time, held precedence as the most important of the 
number. It was, no doubt, the earliest built upon, and likewise, perhaps the first in 
which the progress of subsequent improvement began to be exhibited; and seems, in 
as far as we can discover, to have been looked upon in ancient times, as so much in 
advance of its compeers, that it was simply known as The Street, or the Great Street. 
The term “ Hie Gait,” was formerly applied indifferently to all the principal streets, just 

* With regard to the Market Cross of the Burgli, the following notices may be referred to :— 

18th July 1590—“The quliilk day, in presens of the baillies and counsall, comperit David Duncane, seruand to George 
Esdaill, and Williame Blair, pypar, and become in the provest and baillies and counsallis will, viz. the said David Duncane for 
clymmyng upoun the croce and breking of the samin, and the said Williaum Blair for being upoun the heid of the said croce, and 
playing upoun the heid thairofwith ane pyp.”— Memorabilia, p. 56. 

22 Nov. 1659—“ The same day the said Magistrate and Counsall haveing receavit warrand and ordours for downe takeing 
of the guard lious was buildit about and wpone the Croce, and in regaird the samyne Mercat Croce throw the building of the 
said guard lious thairupon, was altogether defaced. It is therefor now concludid to remove the samyne with all convenient 
diligence, and male it equall with the grund,” &c. On the 3d December following it was ordained that the spot where the Cross 
had stood should be causewayed “in ane most comly and decent maner.”— Ibid. p.p. 195-6. 

The Market Cross continued in existence, therefore, till near the period of the Restoration. 


OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


83 


as we now say, the Highway; so that this appellation did not till recent times apply 
to the thoroughfare which now especially hears the name ; even when M'Ure wrote, it 
was not known, apparently, by this term in particular—as he calls it “ the High-Kirk 
Street. In a document dated 1430, as well as in many others drawn up prior to the 
Reformation, it is, as formerly mentioned, simply styled the Great Street, or the 
King’s Street, leading from the Cathedral Church to the Market Cross; in no in¬ 
stance indeed, does there appear to have been any particular designation applied to 
the present High Street, previous to last century, unless that given by M‘Ure had 
been long recognised among the citizens. 

The Saltmarket, as a continuation of the High Street, was probably first built 
upon, when the houses of the latter were being gradually advanced in the direction of the 
row of buildings situated on the bank of the river, and known in the olden time as the 
Fishersgate.* In the reign of James the First of Scotland, and for more than a cen¬ 
tury afterwards, it was in Latin documents styled Vicus Fullonum , and in the com¬ 
mon vernacular, the Walcargat”—both having the same meaning, i. e. the street 
of the Fullers ; or scourers of woollen cloth. When the dress of the people was chiefly 
composed of the “ hodden grey,” manufactured at their own doors, the fuller was, it 
may be supposed, a personage who seldom lacked employment; the reason why this 
fraternity should have been chiefly congregated about what is now the Saltmarket, 
may be accounted for, no doubt, by the presence of the Molendinar upon its eastern 
side, and the ancient low value of the ground in that particular locality. 

From an early period, the Gallowgate seems to have borne the same name as at 
present. We meet with it as Vicus Furcarum (from the Latin furca, a gibbet) —via 
Furcarum extra torrentem Malyndonar —“ The Gallovgait,” &c.—all at dates re¬ 
moved from the present by an interval of three or four centuries. This appellation, as 
need scarcely be observed, was derived from the circumstance of the street having for¬ 
merly led to the Gallow-moor—a tract of waste land partly occupied by the present 
infantry barracks, and where criminals were at one time executed.! 

The chapel of Saint Thenaw, or Tenew, situated of old near the site of the ex¬ 
isting St. Enoch’s Church,! gave, in so far as is known, its most ancient name to the 
Trongate, which, as leading towards this chapel, was styled Saint Thenaw’s Gate. 
It owes its modern appellation, as is generally known, to the public Tron or Weigh- 
house which stood upon its line. The privilege of having a free tron in the city, was 
granted by James the Fourth to the Bishop of Glasgow and his successors, in 1489-90 ; 
but it is only some sixty years afterwards, or about 1545, that the name of “ Le 
Troyne Gait ” begins to make its appearance in any of the old manuscripts which 
have as yet been examined.! 


* Now, Brid' Y, “" r,+ “ 
l “St. Enoc 
§ Vide, ‘ ‘ Book of < 



f On this moor stood the “butts,” or targets for archery practice. 


Book of our Lady College,” Preface, p. xxxii. 


84 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


For a considerable period after it began to assume the appearance of a street, 
the connected houses in the Trongate did not, it is probable, extend much farther to 
the westward than about the point where the Candleriggs now diverges to the north. 
By the time of the Reformation, however, or shortly afterwards, the line of buildings 
was, we may presume, pretty regularly filled up as far as the original West Port—a 
structure which stood until the year 1588, nearly opposite to the site of the present 
Brunswick Place. Beyond this barrier lay, in a general view, the open country—pas¬ 
tures and corn fields, rude-looking country homesteads, barns and other farm build¬ 
ings, and enclosed “ kail yards,” with here and there a scanty sprinkling of trees; and, in 
the immediate vicinity of the town, a few cottages and gardens of a superior description. 

From the Muniments of the Black Friars, &c., a tolerably respectable list might 
be compiled of the various private possessions which had been situated in Saint 
Tenew’s Street, between the reign of James the Second or Third, and that of Queen 
Mary; but, as such a list would present a mere catalogue of houses and gardens, of 
which the actual localities cannot now be ascertained, there is little probability that 
it would prove of any interest to the reader. There are, however, some few particu¬ 
lars of a more general character to be derived from the same sources, which, as 
throwing an occasional ray of light upon the Trongate and its vicinity in Roman 
Catholic times, are not without a certain degree of value. Thus, as regards the more 
important buildings situated of old upon this line of way, we learn, that at the corner 
of the High Street stood the Court-house, or Town-liall—the “ Pretorium,” as an¬ 
cient documents have it—of the city; a building, even then, we believe, of consider¬ 
able age, which preceded the Tolbootli, to be afterwards referred to. A little farther 
to the west, on the same side of the street, was situated the Chapel of Saint Mary, 
or Our Lady Chapel, an edifice erected prior to the year 1300, and which had been 
allowed, it seems, to become ruinous many years before the advent of the Reformation.”* 
On the opposite, or south side of the Trongate, rose the Collegiate Church of Saint 
Mary and Saint Anne, with its adjoining cemetery. This church was only completed 
some ten or eleven years previous to the abolition of Catholicism in Scotland; and, 
like most other structures of the kind, was rather rudely handled during the troubles 
which occurred when the startled ecclesiastics were ejected from their accustomed 
haunts and homes. Plundered, we may believe, of every thing in the shape of orna¬ 
ment that could be carried away, it appears, after this luckless change of fortune, to 
have been allowed to remain for some twenty or thirty years in a state of ruin; but 
was subsequently repaired and converted into a Presbyterian place of worship. As 
such, this building continued in existence, under the name of the “ Laigli Kirk,” 
down to the year 1793, when it was destroyed by fire—and a noted conflagration did 
the old structure produce, according to the recollections of some of those who were 
present on the occasion. 

* Vide, Liber Collcgii Nostre Domine, &c., Preface, p. xxxiii. 


OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


85 


The remainder of the Trongate proper—that is, within the West Port—had ap¬ 
parently been occupied by private houses, but these were not, in former times, separ¬ 
ated by that fine breadth of street which now attracts the attention of the stranger as 

m O 

he emerges from the winding ascent of the Gallowgate into full view of the long per¬ 
spective stretching to the west. On the contrary, until comparatively recent times, 
the street, near the Tron Steeple, was much encroached upon by a range of houses 
of an inferior description, with a passage upon either side, and forming, it is prob¬ 
able, as unsightly an excrescence in the vista of the Trongate, as did the well-known 
Luckenbooths in that of the High Street of Edinburgh. The principal portion of 
these buildings was acquired, it is said, by the civic authorities, who were thus 
enabled to widen the street to its present extent; a part, however—either in 
connexion with them, or immediately adjoining—was, for some unknown reason, left 
unpurchased, and the consequence is, that there remains to the present day a very 
inconvenient projection upon the public thoroughfare, between the upper end of King- 
Street and the passage leading to the Tron Church.* 

The only structures of any importance, situated beyond the West Port, seem to 
have been the Chapels of Saint Tenew and of Saint Thomas the Martyr, which 
stood apparently not far from each other, near the site of the present St. Enoch 
Square. Of St. Thomas’ Chapel little is known, beyond the mere circumstance 
of its existence: that of St. Tenew, | or Saint Thenaw, the respected mother of 
Kentigern—was said to have been erected over her tomb, and long did the ground it 
covered remain sacred in the eyes of the “ faithful,” as the last resting-place of the 
holy lady who had watched the infant steps of the great apostle of the Cumbrian 
Britons. This place of worship had a burial-ground attached to it, as may be learned 
from the Registers of the Church of Saint Mary and Saint Anne, in which it is men¬ 
tioned, that in or about the year 1549, a certain property was situated between the 
public vennel, (venellam) on the one side, and the cemetery of St. Tenew on the other.]; 
At no great distance from the chapel, there flowed a spring, known as Saint Tenew’s 
well, and to the westward of it passed the streamlet which likewise bore her name, 
and which continued to do so, although under a disguised form, as long as its waters 
were permitted to flow in the light of day.§ In the opinion of all good Catholics, 
the spring referred to was invested with something of a sacred character. This ap¬ 
pears to have been one of those minor remains of superstition which were slow to 
disappear, even long after the destruction of the system which had fostered their 

* Vide, Sketch of the History of Glasgow, by James Pagan, p. 102. 
f Registrum Episc. Glasguens. p. 427. J p. 2S. 

§ In 1662 the Magistrates and Council directed that “ane handsome litle brige, with ane penn, be put over St. Tenowes 
burne, ” Memorabilia, p. 239. This burn has since then been so effectually arched over, that no part of its course can now be 
observed. 


X 


86 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


existence. “ I liave been told,” says the editor of the Booh of our Lady College , 
“ that within the memory of man, Saint Thenaw’s Well was not unfrequently resorted 
to with feelings in which devotion might claim to hold a part.’ So difficult is it to 
eradicate the ideas implanted by a system which addresses itself to the imagination 
rather than to the heart. 

The chapel of Saint Tenew continued in existence till about the close of the 
sixteenth century; some traces of the building were even to be seen, it is said, till 
within the last hundred and fifty years.* As to the localities around, or situated 
between it and the Cross, in the days of Roman Catholic supremacy, but little can 
be said.—We learn that, near Saint Tenew’s Chapel there was a field or piece of 
ground named the Palyard Croft, and farther east, on the south side of the way or 
street, the “ Mutal Croft,” to the south of which was situated, in 1487, the Viri- 
darium, or public park—the same known at an after period as the “ Doucatt 
Green.The crofts just mentioned seem to have been cultivated grounds, subdivided 
amongst a number of proprietors, and in some places converted into gardens. 
The Viridarium was, on the contrary, as its name implies, a grassy common, 
probably interspersed with trees, and skirting in early times the banks of the river 
from about the Old Bridge to the Broomielaw. Under the date of 1487, mention is 
made in a deed of sale, of a house situated “ in Vico Piscatorum” near the “ Stok 
Wei.” In a similar document, drawn up in 1530, this latter is again referred to, as 
having upon its east side the barn of Elizabeth Herbertsoune, the tenement of 
John “ Stevyn,” and the lands belonging to the chaplainry, founded in the parochial 
church of Cadder by Master Thomas Leys, vicar of “ Dregarne.”{ 

We must, however, abandon those olden times, and descend to others somewhat 
nearer to our own, before we can properly refer the reader to the plate before us, or 
attempt to say anything of the buildings which it presents to view.—This illustration 
is copied from a very rare engraving, published about the middle of last century, and 
places the spectator, as it were, at the Cross of Glasgow, on—let us say—the liigh- 
noon of a summer day, during the times of George the Second, at an hour when the 
lower classes were engaged in their workshops, and when few but the foreign merchants, 
or an occasional country proprietor, or city idler, were to be seen upon the principal 
street. There is a cheerful look about the picture—its spacious airy appearance and 
sunlit houses—pleasant to linger upon; and curiously does its quiet reposing aspect 
seem to mirror forth to our restless age a reminiscence of the less disturbed and 
speculative character of the times which have gone past. There—congregated in 
little groups near the stair of the Tolbooth, or standing around the piazzas under the 
Town Hall, may be seen a number of the leading men of the city—the merchants 

* Ibid. Preface, p. xxxiii. f Munimenta Frat. Prcdic. p. 200. 

X Book of Our Lady College, p. 92. 


OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


87 


who traded with the plantations beyond seas, and who were accustomed to lord it 
so ‘ bravely over their fellow citizens—wearing the cocked hats of the period, and 
wiapped in cloaks of scarlet dye. I ew other persons are to be observed upon the 
stieet. Here and there a sober citizen, with, we shall suppose, his wife, are seen 
passing along; to the left, a street porter is bending beneath the weight of what may 
be a keg of herrings, or a goodly roll of tobacco ; nearer the corner of the Saltmarket, 
two of the same class seem to be waiting for employment; while advancing along the 
centre of the street, may be observed, what was possibly the two-horse fly on its return 
from Greenock, and, proceeding in an opposite direction, the carriage of perhaps one 
of the neighbouring nobility or county gentlemen, with its livery servant behind. 

The perspective of the Trongate, as we see it in the plate, had been, with the 
exception of a few buildings, entirely called into existence subsequent to the great 
fires of 1652 and 1677. In the first of these visitations, numerous houses in this 
street are said to have been consumed; and in the latter, the entire range from the 
Saltmarket to the Tron Steeple was burned to the ground; consequently, with the 
exception of the spire mentioned, and of the Tolbooth, none of the buildings repre¬ 
sented in the plate were, we may believe, more than a century old at the time when 
the view was taken. It is evident, that along with the removal of the old houses and 
the introduction of a better style of building, many other improvements were effected 
in the condition and appearance of the locality, if we may judge by the exertions 
made more than two hundred years ago, to abate or remove the various nuisances 
which had at one time been permitted to exist in the principal thoroughfares. In 
the Burgh Records numerous entries are to be met with, which serve to show what 
was the state of this neighbourhood for a century and more after the Reformation ; 
the following may not be without some little interest to those who incline to cast a re¬ 
trospective glance at the minor memorials of the city :—As might be understood 
from a previous extract, the pedestal of the Market Cross had, in the seventeenth 
century, been apparently situated between lines of traders’ booths ; this was equally 
the case so early as the year 1589, when it was ordered by the authorities that all 
“ crameris ” of woollen cloth should stand in the street above the Cross, under the 
penalty of sixteen shillings Scots ; but it was at the same time to be allowable for free¬ 
men who had booths beneath the Cross to stand with their merchandise in front of the 
same.”"' In 1610 the order was made public, that no dunghills were thereafter to be 
placed in any of the front streets, nor in the “ flesche ” or meal markets; also, that 
no “ skynnis nor tymbir ” should be permitted to lie in the main thoroughfares for 
more than a year and a day; (!) and that no stacks of turf should be built, nor any 
lint dried on the “ hie gait,” under the penalty of various fines or confiscations, 
not to be lightly regarded. 


* Memorabilia, p. 54. 


88 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


In the same year it was enjoined, that all fruit, kale, and onion “ cramis” should 
be placed between “ the gutter and the gibbet,” and that every stand should he an ell 
in length and the same in breadth. In 1623 an edict was issued condemnatory of the 
practice of stamping or washing clothes, yarn, and such like, on the public street, or 
indeed in any other quarter “ hot onlie in houssis and privat plaissis.”—The practice 
amongst the dealers in almost every description of commodities, of having stands 
erected along the sides of the street, on which their wares were exposed for sale, 
was very common, and long pertinaciously clung to. By the middle of the seven¬ 
teenth century the custom seems to have met with considerable opposition from the 
magistrates, who, at length, on the 10th December 1659, fulminated an edict against 
it—commanding that all those who had been accustomed to set up stands at the 
Cross, were in future ‘ f to keep at thair awn houssisbut, as a solatium , they were 
to he allowed an exception on the market day, on the weekly return of which it was 
to he permitted them to erect their “ craimes” in the Trongate, to the west of where 
the shoemakers were accustomed to congregate. At the same time the magistrates 
were recommended to “ see” that “ the weemen and wyfs who sells salt on the Hie 
Street,” should stand beneith “ Dowhills foirzett” (front gate).j In addition to these 
particulars, we learn from the same source, that in 1661 “ the sour milk mercatt” 
was removed from the Cross to the Gallowgate Bridge; J and that in 1666 it was the 
custom of the butchers “ to slay and bluid” all the cattle they killed, in open day 
and on both sides of the Trongate—a practice described as being “ verie lothsome 
to the beholders,” and which would seem to have been in that year put down.J 

Subsequent to the destructive fire of 1677, the authorities appear to have adopted 
the most energetic steps to improve upon the former style of building, and by such 
means to erect a barrier, as it were, against the return of so sweeping a calamity. 
It was consequently ordained by them, within a few weeks of the event, that each 
person who intended to build de novo, or to repair any of the injured houses fronting 
the public streets, should be obliged to do so with stone “ from heid to foot, back 
and foir,” without making use of any timber whatever, excepting what was necessary 
to finish off the interior of the houses—explained to signify, for the construction of 
‘"partitions, doors, windows, presses, and such lyk.” It was likewise enjoined that 
the upper floors of the new buildings should not be made to project beyond the front 
of the shops below.§ 

The last of these memorabilia with which we shall detain the reader, before pro¬ 
ceeding to take a hasty glance at the history of the principal buildings which occupy 
the view, refers to a trait of manners which appears somewhat curious when men¬ 
tioned in connexion with the streets of Glasgow and the sober days of William of 
Orange. We allude to the practice—only heard of when it calls down the repro- 

* Memorabilia, p. 19G. f Ibid. p. 225. J Ibid. 263, 283. § Ibid. p.p. 307-8. 


OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


89 


bation of the authorities—of the young—may we add, the gallant and the gay, fre¬ 
quenting the public places in the shade of night, to stir the silent hours with music 
and with song :— 

“ \\ ith dulcimer and lute, whose silver sound 
Bids gentle sleep forsake my lady’s eyes 

or—as the record more prosaically has it—going “ throw the tonne in the night tyme 
maskerading, or sirenading, in companie with violls or other instruments of musick, 
in any numbers. —Doubtless, such doings were common and uninterfered with in 
Catholic times; and this was, probably, a lingering vestige of the olden customs which 
it had been found difficult, even in the course of three or four generations, completely 
to abolish. It is, no doubt, an easier matter—as has been remarked before now—to 
change the political condition and even the religious opinions of nations, than to 
eradicate the popular amusements, the songs, the games, and traditionary affections 
of a people. With all this, however, the idea of a bona fide serenade in the Trongate, 
and of lute or viol “ vexing the ear of night ” within the classic shades of the Salt- 
market, or mayhap, in the once pretending locality of “ Bell’s Wynd,” is amusing 
enough, and on the whole somewhat refreshing, for it seems a relief to hear of a little 
“ fun and frolic” having found elbow-room amongst our predecessors, at a period 
when so many claims were urged in behalf of that stern rule of conduct which set at 
nought the lighter aspirations of the heart, and stamped the gloomy features of a 
compulsory form, not so much of religion as of religious observance, upon the good 
people of the North. We cannot say what was the station and character of the 
serenaders referred to; but, whatever their rank or bearing, there could not, in all 
probability, have been much harm done by an occasional roundelay upon the streets 
at midnight; and who can tell—should some future Shakespeare arise and happen 
to stumble upon our Burgh Records, but that the piazzas of the Trongate may yet 
in stage romance rival the “ dim arcades” of Mantua, or the moon-lit archways of 
the Veronese. 

But, to return from these digressions, it becomes necessary to say something of 
the more important of the buildings represented in the plate. The most prominent, 
and that to which precedence must of course be given, is the Tolbooth—that once 
familiar structure, which had for nearly two centuries looked down upon the daily 
stir of life in its ebb and flow at the central point of the city. As previously stated, 
there stood, before the Reformation, at the north-east corner of the Trongate, a 
building mentioned in old documents as the “ Pretorium,” which seems to have 
combined both Town Hall or Court House, and Prison. Having become perhaps 
in some degree ruinous, but at all events insufficient to serve the purposes for which it 
was intended, it was on the lltli February 1626 agreed upon by the Town Council, 


Memorabilia, p. 379. 
Y 


90 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


that the Provost and Magistrates should be authorised to arrange with certain indi¬ 
viduals about having it pulled down, and to see if any deduction could be had from 
the three hundred merks offered to be taken as the price of its demolition. They 
were at the same time empowered to contract for a new clock, and to “ deill” with 
the tenants whose booths were situated under the walls of the building about to be 
removed.''' 

Here then, in all due form, is the opening of the drama that was to usher into 
existence the renowned Tolbootli of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The 
next turn of the leaf may be expected to direct our attention to the actual commence¬ 
ment of the work, and, accordingly, we soon discover that the worthy magnates of the 
city have become so much interested in the business, that “ they all in ane voice” 
determine that a quantity of stones should be provided for the erection of the Tolbooth 
—aye, no less than “ about” two thousand pieces of “ hewn work,” and “ some wall 
stanis”! besides. After an exhibition of unanimity and liberal feeling such as this, 
it need scarcely be mentioned, that matters progressed with considerable speed, and 
that, before the sun of the 15th May 1626 had set over the city, the foundation stone 
had been laid of the building that was in future years to elevate its spire for many 
an age before his returning beams, and, to become welcome as the face of an old 
friend to the weary wanderer from his paternal home when—satisfied with the gifts 
of Fortune, or, hopeless of her favour—he returned to mingle his own dust with that 
of the first fond guardians of his boyish years. 

It was, of course, no more than in proper keeping with the zeal manifested by 
those at the helm of affairs, that the progress of the edifice towards completion should 
be rapid; and, accordingly, it will not, perhaps, surprise the reader to be told that by 
the 20th October 1627, the completion was so near at hand, that the city treasurer 
was on that day called upon to disburse to “ Valentyne Ginking,” the sum of thirty 
pounds Scots, for gilding the clock and vanes, and “ culloring of the same yallow, 
with the glob and standart, and stanes above the steiple heid.”J Before the close, 
therefore, of that year, we may suppose the entire building to have been, at least 
externally, completed, and the grand ideal of its projectors to have become tangibly 
realised. § 

The appearance of the structure will be best understood by a reference to the 
plate, and none will probably be inclined to deny that it must have formed one of the 
principal ornaments of the city, although few may be found to agree with Dr. Cleland, 

* Memorabilia, p. 79-80. f Ibid. p. 77-8. J Ibid. p. 82. 

§ With regard to the Tolbooth, and likewise, the present Town Hall, to which we shall again refer, numerous are the 
mistakes which have crept into print—some of them arising from the favourite system of copying whatever any previous writer 
had advanced, and others owing to the difficulty at one time felt of acquiring authentic information. To the latter cause we may 
probably ascribe Dr. Cleland’s assertion, that the “old jail,” as he calls it, was erected in the year 1603. See his Statistical 
Tables, &c., 1823, p. 171. 


OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


91 


in describing it as “ a handsome gothic building.” Francks, writing in 1658, 
takes notice of the Tolbooth, as “ a very sumptuous, regulated, uniform fabrick; 
large and lofty, most industriously and artificially carved, from the very foundation 
to the superstructure, to the great admiration of strangers and travellersand, he 
continues, “ this state-house, or tolbooth, is their western prodigy, infinitely excell¬ 
ing the model and usual built of town halls; and is, without exception, the paragon 
of beauty in the west; whose compeer is no where to be found in the north, should 
you rally the rarities of all the corporations in Scotland.” Without permitting our 
ideas to soar on the wings of the writer’s enthusiasm, it may justly be averred, that 
this was a building which the good town had every reason to be proud of, and which, 
in a certain sense, afforded evidence of liberal and expanded views on the part of the 
inhabitants. 

The interior contained a Court Hall, Town-Council Chamber, Dean of Guild 
and Collector’s Rooms, &c., with various apartments for the confinement of prison¬ 
ers—both according to M'Ure, of “ note and distinction,” and of ordinary degree. 
The Council Room, situated on the second floor, was adorned with several portraits, 
to which we shall again have occasion to refer, and contained besides, as our author 
forgets not to mention, “ a fine large oval table, where the magistrates' and town 
council, and their clerk,” were accustomed to sit. Cleland remarks of this apart¬ 
ment, that “ it had a lofty ceiling, an antique ornamented chimney-piece, and the 
appearance of having been well finished;” he likewise states that the Justiciary 
Court was held in the hall, upon the first floor of the Tolbooth, until the year 1795, 
when it was transferred to an adjoining building in the High Street .\ 

It may well be imagined that, by the time when its latter days were at hand, 
this stately old pile had become associated in the minds of the citizens, with many 
of the occurrences of public importance, or of local interest, which had marked the 
progress of affairs, from the troubled era of the civil wars down to the jubilee birth¬ 
day of George the Third—the glorious fourth of June 1809. Was it not there, for 
instance, in front of those very casements, that on an autumn day in the year 1645, 
the citizens had congregated with anxious looks, as the the tidings flew from lip to lip 
that “ James Graham” had been victorious at Kilsyth, while the provost and magis¬ 
trates were assembled within—deliberating on the measures that should be adopted 

* In front of the building were placed the Royal Arms, beneath them, a sun dial, and under that, the inscription, 

H/EC DOMUS ODIT, AMAT, PUNIT, CONSERYAT, HONORAT, 

NEQUITIAM, PACEM, CRIHINA, JURA, PROBOS. 

On the south side of the steeple, are carved the armorial bearings of the archbishop of the see, and on the noi th, the 
Royal initials, C. R. surmounted by a Crown, &c. 

In the work entitled “ The Present State of Scotland," published in 1715, the Tolbooth of Glasgow is referred to as “a 
magnificent structure of hewen stone, with a very lofty tower, and melodious chimes, which ring pleasantly at the end of e\ ery 
hour”—these chimes, as mentioned in a former page, had been originally intended for the steeple ot the Meichant s Hall. 

f Slat. Tables, 1823, apjiendix p. 171. 


92 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


to appease the conqueror, and, if possible, to keep his unbreeched followers from 
making a descent upon the town ? This was truly a season of tribulation to the 
worthy burghers; and many an inquiring eye was turned towards that projecting 
stair-case during the tedious hours that passed ere it became known that the “ Mar¬ 
quis”—he had now recovered his title—would prove a generous victor, and that his 
Highland host should be kept under proper subjection.* 

Was it not likewise, in front of those identical steps, that only some two months 
later the gloomy processions were formed in succession, which had been arranged to 
conduct to the place of execution three of the leading commanders in that same 
array—Sir William Rollock, Sir Philip Nisbet, and Alexander Ogilvie, the Highland 
Chief: while about the same period the “ hall of council” became the scene of no little 
agitation, on the one hand to combat the resolutions of the Committee of Estates, 
and on the other to provide, if possible, against the increase of the plague, which 
was then ravaging the city. 

Among other scenes of historical notoriety, which had been witnessed from the 
Tolbooth, may be mentioned the march of Cromwell at the head of his victorious 
troops, when, after the conflict at Dunbar, he thought proper to confer the honour of 
a visit on the inhabitants of Glasgow. Arriving from Kilsyth, he on this occasion 
diverged to the westward, and marched his troops into the town by the road called 
the Cow Loan—fearing, it is said, to pass the Castle or Bishop’s Palace, in conse¬ 
quence of a report that the Presbyterian party had filled its vaults with gunpowder, 
with the intention of immolating his forces at one grand blow.f It was, doubtless, 
with no pleasant feelings, that the citizens stood by to behold the steel head-pieces 
of his Ironsides glittering along the Trongate, and “ Old Noll” himself eyeing from 
under his broad-brimmed hat the successive groups which stood gazing as he passed. 
A few months later, the Court Hall of the Tolbooth received the assemblage con¬ 
vened by Cromwell’s staunch supporter, the future Principal Gillespie, for the pur¬ 
pose of recording a protest against the claims of Charles the Second, who had a 
short time previously been crowned at Scone, and whose then short-lived sovereignty 
the battle of Worcester was, within the same year, to dispel like a dream.| 

We have next, as regards matters of a public nature, the important affair of the 
Restoration, and the external rejoicings to which it gave birth, not only within the walls 
of the Tolbooth, but in all parts of the city. The results of this return to a monar¬ 
chal form of government, were unfortunately of disastrous consequence to the people 
of Scotland; but, while the future was as yet unveiled, and the hope of a settled and 

* The Committee of Estates was not a little wroth with the magistrates of Glasgow for having “capitulated,” as it was 
termed, “with James Grahame”—they certainly availed themselves of the only means in their power to save the place from 
being plundered—but none of the said committee happened, we may believe, to have either wife or child located at the time in 
the city of St. Mungo. 

t Cleland’s Annals, ii. 24. J Ibid. p. 26. 


OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


93 


paternal system of rule high in the ascendant, it was of course natural, that there 
should be many exuberant manifestations of public feeling; and that such were not 
a-wanting in Glasgow, is apparent from an entry in the Burgh Records, dated 18 tli 
June 1660 , in which, with regard to the “ congratulatioune ” to be kept for the 
happy return of “ our dread Soverayne, the Kingis Majestie,” it is agreed upon that 
bonfires should be lighted in the streets, that all the other “ solemnities requisit ” 
should be attended to, and that two hogsheads of wine should be provided for the 
use of the military then quartered in the town.*' As Motherwell sung, 

“ The fire that’s blawn on Beltane e’en 
May weel be black gin Tule 

and truly something of a change was not long of being experienced by the good people 
of the west, when the real character of the new directors of affairs began to be dis¬ 
played, since but a few years afterwards the “ Highland Host” was let loose upon 
the country, and English troopers were stationed on the Sunday mornings at the 
gates of the city, to prevent any of the inhabitants from leaving it to attend the 
conventicles, and to worship as they felt inclined. 

These proceedings, coupled with others of a similar nature, led, as is well known, 
to many hostile demonstrations in the west of Scotland—not the least important being 
the unexpected event, the defeat at Drumclog, which compelled the imperious Claver- 
house to take shelter in Glasgow, and to entrench his routed followers in the vicinity 
of the Tolbooth. On this occasion the lofty pile looked down, if we may hazard the 
expression, upon a scene which must have startled the peaceable citizens in no ordi¬ 
nary degree. There, was to be seen the implacable instrument of Royal authority. 
Colonel Graham, directing his soldiers in the business of barricading every approach 
to the Cross, and posting them here and there in the best protected positions; while 
amid the stir of these preparations, the heads of the attacking columns made their 
appearance—one division advancing down the High Street, and another pressing 
forward from the passage through the Gallowgate Port. And boldly did the undis¬ 
ciplined peasantry of Clydesdale—the men who had buckled on the sword for con¬ 
science’ sake—conduct themselves on that occasion, when, under the leadership of 
such determined characters as Hakston of Rathillet and John Balfour of Burley, 
they ventured to assail the defences of the Royal troops. They were unsuccessful, 
it is true, in forcing the position; but they maintained the contest at great disadvan¬ 
tage, long enough to compel many of the soldiery to fall back before the storm of 
their whistling bullets, and to seek shelter in the adjoining closes, or behind the 


* Memorabilia, p. 20G. 

f The assailants had six men lulled in the attack, including Walter Paterson, farmer in Carbarns, parish of Cambusnethan. 
See Wilson's Relation of the Battle of Bothiuell Bridge, fc. published in 1751. 

Z 


94 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


stair of the Tolbooth.f “ We did enter the town,” says an old Cameronian poem, 

“ At all the entrise four. 

But yet their forts were so high 
That we could not run ouer; 

But yet we put them in a fray, 

And did return againe, 

And by the pleasant streims of Clyd 
Encamped on ye plain.”* 

Only a brief interval elapsed however, after these exciting events, before the 
complexion of affairs was so greatly altered, that every idea of participation in the 
opinions of the country people, had apparently vanished from among the citizens of 
Glasgow ; while—unlooked-for change !—the hero of “ Bothwell Brig,” the generous 
and hapless Duke of Monmouth, became the “ cynosure of every eye ” as he rode 
into the town—the snowy plumes of his beaver stirring in the breeze, and his fine 
open countenance and chivalrous bearing winning, in spite of his position and lineage, 
the admiration, we may believe, of many a sparkling eye; and commanding, as we 
know, the respectful attentions of the authorities of the city—more perhaps from 
prudential motives than any other consideration, although probably enough, the 
inhabitants had ere then discovered, that it was solely owing to the good will and 
determination of Monmouth, that their firesides had been preserved from the invasion 
of a rapacious soldiery and all the evils of unbridled licence. 

It would prove tedious, however, to dwell upon every circumstance of public mo¬ 
ment which might be brought to mind in association with the Cross of Glasgow, while 
the walls of the Tolbootli looked down upon each passing occurrence that had been 
witnessed there; but we must not omit to refer, however briefly, to such events as 
that which in the year 1680 wounded the feelings of all right-thinging men, when one 
of the mangled limbs of the valiant Laird of Bathillet was brought to Glasgow and 
fixed upon one of the spikes—placed for the purpose of exhibiting the heads, &c. of 
traitors before the eyes of our predecessors, on that part of the building which fronted 
the High Street and still less ought we to pass over the scenes of public rejoicing 
which were subsequently displayed, when—upon the platform of that flight of steps 
which had afforded cover to the soldiers of Claverhouse—the magistrates and other 
leading men of the community came forward to announce the singular success of 
the Prince of Orange, and the downfall of the old government—the tyranny of which, 
cannot after all, be so much ascribed to the monarch himself, as to the unprincipled 
agents to whom he had delegated his authority. 

Nor would it be quite en regie to omit all mention of the excitement which had 
been witnessed in and around the building when the opposition against the measures of 
1707 was at its height—and when the citizens of Glasgow, after burning the Articles 

* See Appendix to M'Ure, p. 330. 

f Cleland, Enumeration, Ac., p. 247—who states that these spikes were only removed about forty years before the date of 
his volume (1832). 


OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


95 


of Union at the Cross, came to the bold resolve of undertaking a march to Edinburgh, 
with the avowed object of dissolving a parliament that, in their opinion, was about to 
make a sale of the country. And again, there is the troubled era of the Earl of 
Mar’s rebellion, a period certainly not to be overlooked; which beheld the inhabi¬ 
tants applying for weapons of “ carnal warfare” at the doorway of the Tolbooth, and 
labouring to entrench the city against the dreaded onslaught of an entire legion of 
those troublesome visitors — described by Bailie Jarvie as having such a cordial 
understanding amongst themselves, against all who wore “ breeks on their limner 
ends,” and had purses in their pockets. 

To these reminiscences might be added a retrospective glance at the occurrences 
of the Malt-Tax riot of 1725—of the visit of Charles Edward on his retreat from 
Derby—of the proclaiming of George the Third as King—and of various other events 
of no slight local importance in their day; but which have already been so frequently 
treated of, that it might appear little less than treason against the literary character 
of our good city, to make any attempt, at the present day, to re-invest them with the 
garb of novelty, or to aim at casting upon these pages of our bygone history one 
single ray of additional light.'”' 

Passing from the old Court House and Prison, we must briefly advert to the Town 
Hall —a building which so long contrasted in the freshness of comparative youth, 
with the dark and stern aspect of its immediate neighbour, and which even yet 
seems slow to assume the appearance of age, to judge by the deeper traces which the 
passage of time is leaving upon many a structure of inferior antiquity.—By the ma¬ 
jority of our local historians it has been erroneously stated, that the existing Town Hall 
was erected in 1636—a mistake somewhat singular with regard to a building of so 
much notoriety as this, but one which may have been inadvertently adopted by 
confounding the present Hall with the old Council Chamber, formerly contained 
within the Tolbooth. The veritable history of the edifice shows that, in the year 
1735, the magistrates and council purchased from Mr. John Graham, of Dougal- 
ston, certain old houses and vacant ground, near the Cross, as the intended 

* In taking, as it were, a parting glance at the Tolbooth, the following few extracts may not be considered out of place 

1646 7th Jan.—It is ordained that Thomas Browne and Robert Mack should have charge of the “magaseine” and that 
“ the haill pouldir in the toune, ball, and vthers ai nies and amounitioune be brought in to the tolbuithe and put in thair keipping,” 
&c. — Memorabilia, p. 143. 

1660, 9tli April.—The Jailor is voted the sum of “ twenty punds for his extraordinarie paines in attending the tolbuith this 
long tyme bygane, liaveing got no profeit therby, having only tlieifes and lounes his prisoners.— Ibid. p. 222. 

1697 4th Sept.—The Treasurer is directed to pay to “Alexander Cunninghame, servitor to Wm. Carmichael, keeper of the 
Tolbuith; the soume of four score two pounds, fourten shilling, four pennies, Scots money, depursed be him for the maintinanco 
of the witches, who are prisoners here, in the Tolbuith,” &c. — Ibid. p. 394. 

On the 12th March 1698, a second payment occurs for “ maintaineing witches and warlocks in the Tolbuith. "—Ibid. 
p. 398. 

1698, 29th Dec.—The Treasurer is authorised to pay to “John Corse, late baillie,” £75 : S s. Scots, “as the pryce of the 
lamp now affixt to the corner of the Tolbooth, and fraught and expenses of bringing the same frae London.”— Ibid. p. 393. 


96 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


site of a new Council Hall and Assembly Rooms; and, that in tlie following year 
(1736), the foundation stone of the proposed building was laid by Mr. Coulter, then 
Lord Provost of the city.* The erection of the edifice was entrusted to “ Deacon 
Corse,” but was carried on chiefly under the superintendence of his foreman, the 
afterwards somewhat celebrated Mungo Naismith ;f to whose hands we are indebted, 
it would appear, for the grotesque visages which look down upon the passers-by from 
the key-stones along the arches of its piazzas. The building was completed in 1740, 
when the new Town Hall was thrown open, and the first regular Assembly Rooms 
established in this city, were prepared for the reception of that portion of the fa¬ 
shionable world which had, till then, threaded the mazes of the dance beneath the 
roof-tree of the Merchants’ Hospital in the Bridgegate.J 

Into these new premises, when ready for their reception, were removed the vari¬ 
ous paintings which, when M‘Ure published his work, served to decorate the Town- 
Council Hall, situated on the second floor of the Tolbooth. They consisted of por¬ 
traits of our sovereigns, from James the First of England to George the Second, 
inclusive—all of which still line the walls to which they were about a century ago 
transferred.§ With regard to these paintings, some curious details are to be met 
with in the Burgh Records. On the 4th June 1670, for instance, the Provost is 
authorised to desire the Dean of Guild, then in London, to purchase the portraits of 
King Charles the First and Second, and also a carpet, “ and to send all home for the 
tounes use.” Under date of 29tli August following, we find that that of the reigning 
monarch had been procured at the expense of twenty-five pounds sterling ;|| but the 
effigy of the “ martyr-king ” could not, it would seem, be so readily obtained, as it 
had not made its appearance by the month of June 1677, when the Council again 
took up the subject—“ appoynting the provost to use all dilligence ” to have the 
picture completed, “ that it may be hung in the Counsell-hous, with the rest now 
there.” To effect this the more speedily, it appears to have been thought advisable 
to quicken the artist’s proceedings by some hints of a tangible nature, as, a month 
or two later, the treasurer receives credit for the sum of five pounds sterling, “ pay it 
to Johne Hendrie, in part payment for quhat he is to get for drawing the Kyngs 
Charles the First his portratur.”^[ In reference to the portrait of James the Second, 

* Cleland’s Extracts from the Public Records.— Stat. Tables, Ac., 1S23, pp. 187-8. 

f lie acquired considerable fame by the erection of St. Andrew’s Church, and other public works. 

I Cleland’s Enumeration, Ac. 1832, p. 252.—In the Memorabilia, (p. 510,) it is recorded, that during the troubles of the 
Rebellion in September 1745, a meeting of the inhabitants had been held “in the Touns New Hall,” which shows, should any 
such evidence be necessary, that it had then been somewhat recently built ; but the style of the architecture, so very similar to 
that adopted in Mr. Murdoch’s residence, now the Buck’s Head Inn, and in many of the houses in Miller Street, Ac.—would of 
itself, we think, be sufficient to show that the present Town Hall could not have been erected during the reign of Charles the Fii’st. 

§ When in 1740 the New Town Hall was opened, that in the Tolbooth was converted into prison rooms.—Cleland, Extracts, 
$-c. p. 174. 

|| Memorabilia, pp. 286-289. 


IF Ibid. pp. 304, 306. 


OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


97 


we find that it was procured in 1683, while he was still Duke of York, and that it 
cost the town twenty pounds sterling.'* Those of William and Mary were purchased 
in 1708, from “ Mr. Scowgall, limner in Edinburgh,” for twenty-seven pounds; that 
of Queen Anne, in 1712, from “ John Scougall, elder, painter,” for fifteen pounds; 
while, with regard to the portrait of her successor, it is recorded, under date of 21st 
September 1717, that the treasurer had been authorised to pay the same amount to 
“ Robert Robertson, merchant, as the pryce of the picture of his Majesty King 
George, now put up in the Council house.” \ They are all full-length paintings, 
and several of them have been regarded as very creditable works of art. In addition 
to those mentioned, the Hall contains portraits of George the Third, and of Archibald 
Duke of Argyll in his robes as Lord Justice General—a painting by Ramsay, which 
has been greatly admired. 

The only other objects of interest represented in the plate are :—the Tron Steeple, 
erected in 1637—8, in the under part of which the public weigh-house was for 
many years established ; the well-known statue of William the Third, elevated to its 
present position in 1735 ; and the Guard-house, situated at the west corner of the 
Candleriggs, from which the protectors of the slumbering city were wont to make 
their rounds—a duty performed by the inhabitants, in rotation, before such things 
were known as a parliamentary police force, and the nightly march of lanterns that 
now heralds the hours,— 

“ When rogues pere in and eke pei-e out, 

Right many of them bee, 

And honest men with bale in thought, 

Spcde by all warylie.” 

Beyond this building may be observed the spire of the old Hutchesons’ Hospital, 
which may be said to terminate the view. Near the spectator on the right, are 
numerous specimens of the piazzas already alluded to, and also ol the rows ot posts, 
which, previous to the introduction of foot pavements, had served to protect a portion 
of the street from the intrusion of horses and vehicles.]! In conclusion, it may be 
observed, that at the period when this view was taken, many ol the principal families 
of the city—those of the physicians, merchants, and lawyers, ol the most respectable 
standing, resided in the Trongatc ; and—as the inhabitants have always appeared to 
cherish a peculiar interest in his renown—we may be permitted to mention, that 
within that building on which the light is falling, near the entrance ol the Gandle- 
riggs, was born on the 13th of November, 1761, the hero who, forty-eight years 
afterwards, was to lay down his life in the hour of victory upon the bloody field ol 
Corunna—bestowing his last thoughts on his country and on the parent who gave him 
birth, and leaving the recollection of much that was great and good to form a biilliant 
halo round the memory of—Sir John Moore. 


* Memorabilia, p. 336. f Ibid. pp. 420, 423, 465. . , , , 

J It may be remarked, that foot pavements were not introduced into Glasgow till the to the^Trongate 


came general after the first police act was obtained in 1800—the east side ot the Candleriggs. 
had the honour of being the first part of the city which exhibited this improvement ‘ " 

2 A 


C (eland's Stat. Tables, 1823, p. 191. 


98 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


OLD SUGAR-HOUSE, OFF THE GALLOWGATE; 

AND FIDDLER’S CLOSE. 

I N neither of these subjects is there anything to he found particularly worthy of 
attention, beyond perhaps, the mere interest which attaches to them as repre¬ 
sentations of buildings claiming the title to a somewhat respectable age. 

The first presents a sketch of the existing remains of the “ Easter Sugar Work”—• 
an edifice at one time entitled to honourable mention, as affording proof of the energy 
with which the enterprise of the western metropolis of Scotland had advanced to 
rival other nations in some of their principal branches of trade. It was, we believe, 
during the Protectorate of Cromwell, that the merchants of Glasgow began to turn 
their attention towards the refining of sugar.'”' The business was, at that period, 
almost exclusively in the hands of the Dutch, and appears to have proved rather an 
important source of revenue to those respectable gentlemen, the Burgomasters and 
others, who had their tulip gardens by the shades of Haerlem, or their picture gal¬ 
leries on the shores of the Zuyder Zee. But it was at length decreed, that a portion 
of this lucrative trade should be carried elsewhere, and by degrees, occasional 
“ sugar bakers,” overseers and workmen, began to make their appearance among 
the citizens of Glasgow—forsaking, in pursuit of gain, the favoured borders of the 
Amstel to take up their quarters by the waters of Clyde. 

The first Sugar Work established in this city, upon what may be termed an im¬ 
portant scale, was, we believe, that erected at the west end of Bell Street, in 1667; 
the second, was the building shown in the plate—built about two years later in the 
vicinity of the Gallowgate. They were both established by joint-stock companies, 
formed of a few individuals from among the principal merchants.! The business ap¬ 
pears to have proved of so lucrative a nature, that in course of time it became greatly 
extended; so much so, that previous to the middle of last century there were no less 
than five sugar refineries at work in Glasgow,! each giving employment to a consider¬ 
able number of persons, and adding not a little to the prosperity as well as the 
industrial character of the place. 

Fiddler’s Close is a narrow court or lane, leading off the east side of the High 
Street. The buildings on either side possess a considerable share of architectural 

* Vide Gibson’s History, p. 246. 

f M‘Ure mentions that the proprietors of the Easter Sugar Work, were John Cross, James Pcadie, John Luke, George 
Bogle, and Robert Cross. Edit. 1830, p. 228. 

t The third was situated in Stockwell, the other two were in King Street—one of these was called the “ Little Sugar 
House,” and belonged to “William Gordon and Haik Bettiken, sugar boiler:” M‘Ure, p. 258.—In 1726 it was agreed upon 
between the magistrates and the proprietors of the sugar refineries, that the latter should regularly send their work people, provided 
with buckets, to aid in the extinction of fires, on condition that the men should be relieved from the responsibility of serving in 
the city guard.— Memorabilia, p. 484. 


























■ 





































' 



























'j,:iGTMj,e h-qih siiN''jsn'ja (SHaicruia 





























Y\ V\ 


%' * -t-v. 

« *msa} 


’nmr 


Bfc- 

S? '■'■:•'■ ; 

agfe . W*r3: 


■■:K 

?// ft*-*. 


I*4\. 


_ _ ^ r a™™ c TWK t OLD TOWN RESIDENCE OF CAMPBELL OF BUTCESWOOD,BRID&EG6TE 

TOWN RESIDENCE OF THE LATE HREMANEINIAy ESQ. Q,UEEN SLKEt I. iw 












































































f 
















OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


99 


vaiiety, and seem, as regards their approaches and other particulars, to have 
been \eiy ingeniously constructed for securing as great an amount of irregularity and 
inconvenience as could well be devised. Here may still be seen some remains of the 
semi-wooden erections of the seventeenth century—once, it may be, pleasant enough 
to look upon, albeit somewhat closely wedged together; but now by no means likely 
to attract the steps of many visitors into the degraded regions where they stand. 


SILVERCRAIGS’ LAND, & 0 . 

PT1HE first in point of antiquity of the buildings represented in the opposite plate, 
-L is that which was known as Silvercraigs’ Land, and which stood till within 
the last seventeen or eighteen years, on the east side of the Saltmarket, directly 
opposite to the opening of the Bridgegate. We have every reason to believe that this 
house was built about two centuries ago, by Robert Campbell of Silvercraigs,'”' who 
married a daughter of James Stewart of Floak, and to whose son it belonged in 1G64 
—this opinion indeed is, it may be said, confirmed, by knowing that, conspicuous on 
its front, were placed—surmounted by the national arms—two sculptured shields, 
one of which bore the gyron quarterings of the family of Argyll, and the other the 
cognizances of the houses of Campbell and Stewart, party per pale.\ 

* M‘Ure refers to him as “of Elie, thereafter of Silvercraigs.” From the title deeds and other documents connected with 
this building and its early occupants—with extracts from which we have been most kindly favoured by the gentleman in whose 
possession they now are—we find that the nuptials of Robert Campbell, eldest son of Colin Campbell, Merchant Burgess of 
Glasgow, and Mary Stcivart, second daughter of James Stewart of Floak, had been solemnised in 1623 ; their marriage contract 
is dated 12 February in that year. The father, Colin Campbell, (then styled senior), was provost of Glasgow in 1636 ; he had 
a second son, Colin Campbell of Blythswood, who held the same office in 1660.—The Robert Campbell of Silvercraigs, above 
referred to, had a son Robert, who, in 1661, likewise married a lady of the name of Stewart— LiUias, daughter of James Stewart 
of Christwell, (M‘Ure has it Chrysivell), and the house in question descended to him by inheritance. 

f Vide Literary Rambler, 1832, p. 26.—Some pages back we stated that we felt doubtful as to the exact spot where the 
“ Barras Yett’’ had stood. We find by a description of the property, drawn up in 1661, that Silvercraigs’ Land w r as then 
situated “close or near to the South Port, commonly called the Barras.” 

The following brief history of the building, after it had passed out of the possession of the Campbells of Silvercraigs, may 
be thought worthy of notice :—We find that in 1703 it belonged to Walter Scott, brother to the Laird of Roxburn; in 1710, to 
Sir Robert Pollock of Pollock; in 1711, to Alexander Hamilton, of Cranskeeth or Grange; in 1716, to James Montgomerie of 
Perston, late baillie of Glasgow; in 1734, to Patrick Montgomerie, his heir; in 1758, to the Partners of the United Companies 
of the Wester and King-Street Sugar Houses; in 1766, to Archibald MacGilchrist, Town Clerk of Glasgoiv; in 1781, to Donald 
MacGilchrist, his son; and in 1803, to Mrs. Catherine MacGilchrist, Spouse of the Rev. Dr. Balfour, one of the Ministers of 
Glasgow, and others, as heirs portioners of the said Donald Mac Gilchrist, their brother. 

We may remark, that in the opinion of the gentleman possessed of the title deeds, Ac. referred to, the house represented in 
the plate was the same with that mentioned in an instrument of seisine, dated shortly after Mr. Robert Campbell’s marriage in 
1623. We rather incline to think, however, that the building referred to in that document had been one of older date ; removed 
by Mr. Campbell sometime after his nuptials, to make w T ay for the probably more handsome and more commodious mansion in 
which Cromwell afterwards took up his abode. The arms sculptured upon it imply that it was erected after his marriage. 






100 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


For a long time prior to its demolition, tliis venerable mansion formed, it may be 
said, one of the minor lions of the city, owing to the current tradition of its having 
been occupied by Cromwell during his visits to Glasgow in 1650 and 1651. Within 
its principal apartment the successful general of the Commonwealth received, it is 
averred, his civil and military visitors, and likewise that assemblage of the clergy 
whom he summoned before him to answer for the manner in which he had been assailed 
from the pulpit—“a meeting,” says Baillie, one of the party, “ which was put 
on us that we could not decline it.” It is probable that the laird of Silvercraigs 
found Oliver not a bad tenant, although the usual quiet and privacy of his residence 
must have been somewhat seriously interfered with while the future Protector made 
himself at home in “ chamber and hall ”—the scabbards of his orderlies ever and 
anon clanking in lobby and on staircase, and his buff-jerkined body-guard sauntering 
about the court-yard behind, or resting upon their halberts before the entrance 
archway. At that period many a passer-by may have glanced up at the windows of 
Silvercraigs’ Land, with feelings of mingled curiosity and bitterness towards its cele¬ 
brated occupant; in after years, the feeling with which the eye rested upon the old man¬ 
sion was one of curiosity alone—as imagination endeavoured to recall a picture of the 
scenes which had passed within and around its walls when Cromwell, Thurloe, Monk, 
Zachary Boyd, Baillie, Gillespie, and other noted individuals, had figured upon the 
stage. To the particulars appended in the notes in the preceding page we have nothing 
of any interest to add with regard to this now all but forgotten building. 

The former Town Residence of the Campbells of Blytilswood, is situated 
on the south side of the Bridgegate, not far from its western extremity, and has 
apparently been erected at different periods, the one half presenting a somewhat more 
florid appearance than the other.'"' To judge by the style of architecture exhibited in 
both divisions, we should suppose it to have been built at about the same time as the 
old house in Stockwell Street referred to at page 55, and that in the Gallowgate 
mentioned at page 81 ; this would refer the date of its erection to the era of Charles 
the Second.j The building, which had a large garden behind, contined to be occu¬ 
pied by the proprietors of Blythswood until the latter part of last century; and was 
sold by the last of them who possessed it in 1802. 

The next illustration affords a view of the house in which the celebrated James 
Watt for some time resided, while engaged in planning the various improvements 
which he effected on the Steam-Engine. The reader may remember that it was 
during the period when Mr. Watt occupied, as a philosophical instrument maker, a 

* The whole range however, had been connected internally. 

f Probably enough, it may have been built by Colin Campbell of Blythswood, brother of Robert Campbell of Silvercraigs, 
and provost of the city in 1660 . 

About twenty years ago, this old mansion was occupied as a tavern or eating-house, noted for its excellence in the steaming 
dainties of “monieplies and king’s hood.” 


OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


101 


shop in the Saltmarket, in 1763, that Professor Anderson sent him a model of New¬ 
comen’s Engine, to have some repairs made upon it, and that it was from the ideas 
awakened in his mind by the examination of that piece of machinery, that his inven¬ 
tive genius was directed into the channel which it eventually followed with so much 
success. Soon after the above occurrence, having procured an apartment in the 
Pottery or Delft-work, near the Broomielaw, he there shut himself up with a single 
assistant, earnestly to pursue his researches; * and it was while engaged upon 
them—devoting his attention to an object that was to be of such vast importance to 
the human race—that he had his residence in the house represented in the plate. 
We are not certain, indeed, but that his experiments were carried on in a part of 
the building itself; at all events that this was the house he lived in is a fact that, we 
believe, cannot be disputed. It is situated in what is called Delftfield Lane—a narrow 
passage, parallel with, and a short distance to the west of York Street, which is now 
being converted into a spacious thoroughfare. 

The late Kirkman Finlay’s Residence in Queen Street has but recently 
yielded to the progress of change, to make way for the new buildings of the National 
Bank. This house was built—probably about the year 1775—by Mr. James Ritchie, 
a West India merchant of considerable eminence, and one of the class of Tobacco 
or Sugar “ Lords,” who were accustomed to carry their heads, as it is expressed, so 
high above those of their fellow citizens.f It must for a long time have been one 
of the handsomest mansions in the city, and was built in the prevailing style of the 
earlier decades of the reign of George the Third, already alluded to—a style which, 
in the opinion of many, may be considered as anything but surpassed in elegance by 
that which prevails among the better class of self-contained city edifices or suburban 
villas, in the year of grace 1847. 

It was purchased from Mr. Ritchie by the late Mr. Kirkman Finlay, between 
thirty and forty years ago, and was occupied by him as his town residence till, we 
believe, the period of his death in 1842. 


* Cleland, Enumeration, <fcc., 1832, p. 145. 

•( In M'Arthur’s Plan of the City, published in 1778, to be afterwards mentioned, Mr. Ritchie’s mansion forms one of 
the eight then existing on the west side of Queen Street. 




102 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


THE OLD BRIDGE. 

I N previous references to this oncefamous structure—“the GreatBridge of Glasgow,” 
Magnus Pons trans Cludam, we adopted the common opinion of its having been 
erected about the year 1345, by the then Bishop of the diocese, William Rae, or Raa ; 
and although this opinion rests, we believe, upon no testimony more ancient than the 
statements of M‘Ure, and Keith the historian of the Scottish Bishops, we do not see 
that there exists any sufficient reason for controverting it—however much we might 
desire, with the learned editor of the Chartulary of Glasgow, that the evidence of the 
fact was somewhat better supported.'"' 

This William Rae, who succeeded John de Lindesay as Bishop about the year 
1335, and who died in 1367, had the misfortune to live in very unsettled times; but 
although the general fortunes of the Scottish monarchy may have materially suffered 
from the effects of the disastrous battles at Duplin and Halidon Hill, it would perhaps 
be too much to say that the see of Glasgow had, in consequence, become so much im¬ 
poverished, that the probability is slight of its chief dignitary having had it in his 
power, by the year 1345, to erect such an edifice as was the first stone bridge of 
Glasgow.f Of this prelate’s life very little is known, and the annals of the diocese 
present almost an entire blank during the whole reign of David the Second it is not, 
in consequence, at all surprising, that we have no very ancient authority for saying 
that he really was the originator of the structure ; but it tells somewhat in favour of 
the prevailing opinion, that no mention of its erection is to be found in connection 
with the more fully detailed transactions of the bishops who were his successors. 

The earliest notice of the Old Bridge that we have happened to meet with, occurs 
in a document, dated in 1487, in which it is mentioned that the house and garden of 
John “ Leiclie,’’ fisherman, were situated in the street leading to the Glasgow Bridge 
— ad Pontem Glasguensem.% From that period downwards it is frequently alluded 
to—alike in the muniments of the Collegiate Church of St. Mary and St. Anne, in 
those of the Dominican Friars, and in the records of the city—but seldom in a 
way to require any particular notice. 

The original fabric consisted, we are told, of eight arches, and was only twelve 
feet in width.|j It seems to have borne some resemblance to the antique fabric which 

* Registrum Episcopatus, Glasg. pref, p. xxxix. 

f We use the expression was, as the Old Bridge has, within the last seventy years, been so much widened, and otherwise im¬ 
proved, as to present a very different appearance from that which it originally bore. 

| In the appendix to the Maitland Club Volume containing the muniments of the Friars Preachers, <fcc. , there is given a 
legal document, dated 1440, from which it appears that some time previous, one Thomas Raa had devised certain heritable pro¬ 
perty to the Cathedral Church of Glasgow, “ pro anniuersario bone memorie dominj Willelmj Raa quondam episcopi Glasguen- 
sis,” (p. 251-2.) 

§ Munimenta Fratrum Ord. Predicat, p. 200. |] Cleland’s Enumeration, <ic., 1832, p. 174. 





















































* 



















































ERECTED BY BISHOP RAE J.H 13 4*5. 


















































f . 

■ 













OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


103 


still spans the Forth under the guns of Stirling Castle; and a tolerable idea of its 
appearance may be formed by a reference to the first plate of our series—Slezer’s view 
from the South. The earliest alteration attempted upon this boast of the olden city, 
was made in the year 1777, when an addition, ten feet in width, was made to it upon 
the east side, two ot the arches at the north end being at the same time built up." ;,i 
The oldest section, therefore, is that which faces down the river; and to any one 
standing beneath the arches, the line of demarcation between it and the modern 
masonry is perfectly apparent. The second, and, as it may be termed, the final im¬ 
provement, was planned by the celebrated Telford, and resulted in the formation, 
in 1820—21, of the footpaths which project upon either side, resting upon supports of 
iron. The next change will, no doubt, be that destined to supplant all that has been 
done, and to replace the old, but far from worn-out structure, with one which may 
prove in better keeping with the requirements of the nineteenth century, but which, 
as things now-a-days go, may very possibly never see the time when it may boast of 
an antiquity so respectable as that which distinguished its predecessor. 

Although the Old Bridge has, according to general belief, witnessed the passage 
of some five hundred years with the many changes which have followed in their train, 
still its annals are few; and however the elements of a History may from time to 
time have directed their gleams around it, they have all vanished like the meteor 
streamers of the North, leaving the “ story” of the venerable structure—the recollec¬ 
tions of its most interesting associations, fairly wrapped in the shadow of night. 
There have been none, indeed, to chronicle any such occurrences; but, doubtless, 
many a devotional—many a warlike—many a regal cavalcade has been seen to defile 
across its road-way in the times that are gone; when it formed the principal means of 
communication with the western counties, and when prince as well as peasant availed 
themselves of the accommodation it afforded. 

As previously mentioned, adjoining to its northern extremity, stood the “ Brig 
Port,” which appears to have in general been pretty carefully guarded. The follow¬ 
ing are a few of the notices bearing reference to the subject before us, which have 
been culled from the Burgh Records:—In 1647, the sum of 180 merks was deducted, 
we learn, from the rental payable by the tacksman of the bridge for the year 1645, 
in consequence of the losses he had sustained by the “ publict enemies”—doubtless, 
the followers of Leslie or Montrose.f In the following year, the treasurer was ordained 
to pay him one hundred pounds (Scots), owing to a similar defalcation of revenue, 
occasioned by the presence of the “pestilence” in the city. \ Under date of 1657, 
the “table of the bridge customes” is mentioned—a table which “Androw Andersoune 
had then engaged to print.§ On the 6th July 1671, it was agreed on by the autho¬ 
rities that the southern arch of the bridge should be taken down, “ for eschewing of 

* Annals, 1816, i. 35. f Memorabilia, p. 163. t ibid. P- 167. § ibid. p. 185. 


104 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


danger, seeing its not lyklie to stand. M/Ure states, to give his own words, 
that the bridge “ continued entire till the year 1671, that the southermost arch fell, 
(but was quickly rear’d up upon the charges of the community).” “ There was,” he 
adds, “ much of the care of Providence observed with regard to the fall of that arch ; 
for it was the seventh of July, the very day of Glasgow Fair, and about twelve of the 
clock, and though hundreds, yea, I may venture to say thousands, had pass’d and 
repass’d, both of horse and foot, yet not one single person got the least harm.”-—Sing¬ 
ular, that the very day previous, the said arch should have been considered so unsafe 
as to be condemned by the authorities, and yet that the lives of “ thousands” should 
have been so trifled with, as this author would lead us to believe !—It may finally be 
observed, as indicative of the value of the produce brought into the city from the 
southern districts, during the reign of James the Sixth, that, in 1590, the “ casualties 
and costumes of the brig” were let by auction, for the then current year, at a rental 
of eighty merks Scots. 


PART OF ARGYLE STREET IN 1794. 


B EFORE the removal, in the year 1751, of the West Port—one of the principal 
entrances to the city, which stood near the site of the present Black Bull Inn— 
the line of Argyle Street was a common country road, leading to the mills at 
Partick, and to the ancient burgh of Dumbarton. On either side, and extending 
westward to the large brewing establishment situated at Graliamstown, were scat¬ 
tered a number of humble thatched cottages, to each of which were generally attached 
“ a malt-barn,” and other out-houses. These cottages were chiefly occupied by 
“ maltmen,” who produced upon a small scale a species of home-brewed beer, which 
would appear to have been a general favourite with the inhabitants. This ale—pre¬ 

pared the one day and delivered next morning at the houses of the citizens—was, 
while tea and coffee were yet but little known, the ordinary breakfast beverage of all 
classes of the community, and its preparation, as may be believed, gave employment 
to a considerable number of hands. 

Adjoining to the gateway, the buildings were probably numerous, and may have 
formed for some distance an almost continuous, but mean-looking, street. The 

* Ibid. p. 292. 















































































' 






















































NORTH SIDE-FROM THE EASTOF MILLER STREET, TQTHE WEST OF QUEEN STREET 














OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


105 


minutes of the Town Council enable us, in several instances, to form an idea of what 
must have been the appearance of this locality a century or two ago. In 1655, for 
example, so great a quantity of rubbish had been accumulated by the side of the way 
without the West Port, that it “ had fallen in the guitter and stoppit the current 
of the watei, so that sundrie people on the northe syde of the Trongait were forcit to 
mak brige stones for entrie to their houssis.” Again, in 1666, the authorities were 
called upon to mteifeie, m consequence of **drvers persones, ’ residing between 
Hutchesons Hospital and St. Tenowe s burn, having taken the liberty of forming 
little dungsteads in front of their several holdings, by heaping up straw and other 
refuse in the very line of the water-course that had then been recently “ levelled and 
maid straight.”-’ From such notices, and from the circumstance that the deep, dirty 
road—for such it must previously have been—was, in the year 1662, directed to be 
causewayed from the West Port to St. Enoch’s burn, we maybe certain that the now 
leading thoroughfare formed in earlier times anything but an inviting approach to 
the city. 

On the removal of the gateway, however, a gradual improvement began to take 
place, and in the course of a few years several handsome houses were erected to the 
west of where it stood. Amongst these, it may be mentioned, was the elegant resi¬ 
dence of Provost John Murdoch, built by him in 1757, and now occupied as the 
Buck’s Head Inn. The adjoining building to the eastward of it, of which the up¬ 
per portion alone retains the traces of better days, was erected at the same time by 
Mr. Colin Dunlop, who, at a subsequent period, likewise became chief magistrate of 
the city. In 1756, Virginia Street was opened up, and four years afterwards arose 
at its south-east corner the existing Black Bull Hotel, erected by the Glasgow 
Highland Society; while, about the year 1773, a respectable-looking dwelling- 
house was built by Mr. John Miller of Westertown, immediately opposite to Provost 
Murdoch’s more imposing mansion, and “ two riggs of land lying in that croft called 
Longcroft,” were devoted to the use of the public, as the future area of Miller Street. 

As years rolled on, many other buildings of a greatly superior class to any that 
had previously existed there, began to line the opposite sides of Argyle Street; still 
the thatched cottages, malt kilns, and such like relics of a simpler time, were, in 
various quarters, very tenacious of their hold, and long continued to meet the eye of 
the stranger, in curious contrast with the aristocratic appearance of the more recent 
structures; one or two of them may be observed in the plate, as they yet lingered, 
about fifty years ago, in close proximity to some of the proudest abodes in the city. 
To go over the view in detail: the first subject to the right of its upper division, we 
find referred to, in a deed executed by Mr. Miller .of Westertown, as the “ kiln 
of the deceased John Simpson,” the building formed three sides of a quadrangle 

* Memorabilia, pp. 177 and 262. 


106 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


receding from the line of street, part of which was latterly occupied by a spirit-dealer. 
Next to it is the house erected on the site of a similar “kiln and yard,” by the said 
Mr. Miller, as formerly mentioned; it was taken down only a few years ago, having 
been at one time partially occupied by a noted keeper of sedan chairs, the entry to 
whose premises—a cellar fronting Argyle Street—was wont to be flanked on either 
side by several of those once favourite vehicles of locomotion. The opening to 
Miller Street succeeds—a street long regarded as a great ornament to the city, but 
which would certainly have had a still better appearance, had its worthy projector 
been liberal enough to cast a third “ rigg” of his field into the measure of its width. 
Adjoining to Miller Street, on the west, appears a tall building, comparatively mo¬ 
dern ; and immediately beside it, the eye rests on an humble retiring little cottage, 
that seems to shrink back—with something of respect—from amid the exalted society 
in which it is found. This was another of the primitive-looking buildings which had 
stood by the wayside in the vicinity of the West Port, and was, about the period 
when the view was taken, occupied, we are told, as a school. The handsome struc¬ 
ture which stood near it, at the east corner of Queen Street, was built by a gentleman 
of the name of M'Call, a merchant in Glasgow—probably about the year 1777, when 
the formation of Queen Street was begun. From some peculiarity in the stone with 
which it was constructed, this fine-looking house became latterly very dark, indeed, 
almost black in its appearance. It was demolished in the early part of the present 
century, to make wav for the plain lofty pile now standing in its place. To the left 
of the plate may be seen the last of some farm buildings, which formerly stood at the 
southern termination of Queen Street; this would seem to have been a barn or malt- 
kiln, and it long maintained its ground, in strangely incongruous keeping with the 
various edifices near it.* 

The line of Queen Street—originally known as the “Cow Loan ”—was, prior to 
the year 1777, a narrow country lane bounded by hedges, through which the com¬ 
mon herdsman of the burgh f was accustomed to drive the cattle of the citizens on 
their way to the pastures beyond the present Dundas Street. This road is more 
than once referred to in the minutes of the Town Council. It was by it, as previ¬ 
ously remarked, that Cromwell and his soldiers entered the city, when obliged to 
make a detour in order to avoid a danger, supposed to lurk in the neighbourhood of 
the Bishop’s Palace. It seems to have been, in fact, the only approach from the 

* A writer in the Glasgow Herald of October IS, 1843 says, of the ground on which this stood, that the proprietor held it 
at three guineas the square yard—a price considered so outrageously absurd, that it became a standing joke throughout the 
city. The proprietor, however, stuck to his demand for upwards of twenty years, and at last obtained it from Bailie Morrison, 
builder, who erected the present large corner tenement. 

f Of this useful functionary a farewell relic remains in existence, in the shape of the horn with which he was accustomed 
to summon the thrifty housewives to turn out their cattle, and at the sound of which his matinly charge was wont to gather 


OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


107 


north-west; and, in seasons of disturbance, was defended by trenches formed in its 
neighbourhood. This was especially the case during the rebellion of 1715, when 
we find the authorities to have been very active in preparing for the “ safe-keeping” 
of the town; and, among other disbursements, to have paid out forty-two pounds 
Scots as the price of timber supplied for making gates to the trenches at “ Glass¬ 
house, Cowloan, and St. Tennoch’s Bridge.” The “ Great Argyll” himself visited 
Glasgow at the time, and personally inspected the doings of the inhabitants in the 
important matter of fortifying the city. 

The lower division of the plate exhibits the aspect, in 1794, of that portion of the 
south side of Argyle Street which extends from about Turner’s Court to St. Enoch’s 
Square. Many of the buildings there represented are still in existence, although 
in general their appearance has been greatly altered by the conversion of the base¬ 
ment storeys into shops or warehouses, in accordance with the taste and requirements 
of a more recent age. Among the houses in the line deserving of particular notice, 
is the building seen towards the left of the view, retiring from the line of street, and 
pinnacled with vases. This was, we are given to understand, the villa of Mr. Rae 
Crawford of Milton, who, when he found the extending city gaining upon his retreat, 
removed to a distance which he considered a perfectly secure one, and reared a 
second suburban residence at what is now the east comer of Brown Street, Anderston. 
The two buildings adjoining were, to judge by their appearance, erected in the time 
of Queen Anne or of George the First; and must, in their day, have been looked 
upon as far from insignificant structures. The one at the opposite corner of Maxwell 
Street, is said to have been originally occupied as the Glasgow Merchant Bank. 
The thatched house adjoining, and facing the pump-well, was for a considerable period 
somewhat celebrated as a tavern, much frequented by farmers, dealers in horses, Ac. 
The extensive range on the right, known as Horne’s Court, still holds its ground, 
and was built, we believe, in 1766. It may here be observed that Maxwell Street 
was originally a lane, leading to considerable workshops belonging to a Mr. Maxwell, 
coppersmith. A principal article of his manufacture were the stills made use of in 
the West India plantations—a branch of trade which has now in a great measure 
deserted Glasgow, to find a home on the hanks of the Mersey. 

The views we have just referred to do not carry us back to a period very remote 
from the present, and many a one still in the hale descent of life, may find no diffi¬ 
culty in recalling the actual features of what the limner s art has here endeavoured 
to perpetuate. To the majority of the community, however, the subjects ot the 
drawings cannot fail to prove curious and new , although, perhaps owing to the 
gigantic strides of passing change—there never was a time when the evidences ot 
former progress were calculated to make less impression upon the mind than that 
which is now upon the wing. 


108 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


ARGYLL STREET IN 1793, 

(North Side, from Queen Street to Graiiamston. ) 

T HE two views which next come under notice, form when united, what may be 
termed a continuation of the first of the preceding pair—exhibiting the line of 
buildings westward, from about the point at which it terminates, to near the lower 
end of the present Hope Street. 

Glancing along the picture, from the right of the lower division, we have first 
the existing house in which is formed the entrance to the Argyll Arcade, and 
next to it a somewhat capacious malt barn, taken down about fifty years ago, to be 
replaced by the buildings of Morrison’s Court. Adjoining to this barn, stands one 
of the handsome mansions of the mercantile aristocracy, built about the period of 
the American War;*' and immediately beside it is the edifice which still occupies, 
but under a changed appearance, the south-east corner of Buchanan Street; this, we 
have been informed, was erected by tontine subscription, to be occupied as an Inn. 
Opposite to it is part of a small house, one half of which had been removed to permit of 
the formation of Buchanan Street in 1780 ; beside it may be observed the handsome 
residence of Mr. John Gordon, a West India merchant; and, in singular contrast, 
to the west of it, an old thatched malt barn and kiln; this, we believe, was the last 
to disappear of the thatched buildings at one time common on the line of Argyll Street, 
and continued in existence till about twenty years ago. On the opposite side of the 
narrow lane now called Mitchell Street are a few small houses, requiring no particular 
notice. 

The upper division of the plate continues the line from what is now the opening 
of Union Street;—in the first place, with what appear to be workshops, or a second 
malt barn, and the tall plain building still standing at the corner of Alston Street— 
formerly called “ Playhouse Close,” from the circumstance of its having led to the 
first theatre erected in Glasgow. The house was built by subscription, at a period when 
public opinion ran high against theatrical amusements, and when for some time no 
one could be found bold enough to dispose of ground for its site; this, however, was 
at length procured from Mr. Miller of Westertown, and the building was completed 
in the spring of 1764. It was opened by Mrs. Bellamy, and other performers, wdien 
part of the audience set fire to the stage, destroying all the scenery and mechanism. 
When subsequently restored, the performances were allowed to proceed; but the 
lessee met with no great success. In April 1782 a second fire broke out in the 

4 

* Taken down by Mr. George Douglas, in 1828 or 1S29, to make way for the handsome building he subsequently erected 
on the spot—the first we believe in Glasgow, which possessed windows of plate glass. 











































































































CtW'H SLDJE OF ARGYLL STREW T W 1793 

DlQTWfcKIJ UNION STREET hNT> QURRJT STRF WT 











VIEW OF THE BBjOOMIELAWIH THE TEAR, 1802 













































































































































OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


109 


building, which left no part of it standing but the blackened walls: these being 
afterwards roofed in, the premises were fitted up as a granary, and as such it still 
remains. The upper part of it may be observed in the plate, rising beyond some 
two-storey houses which front the street. The drawing presents us with no other 
objects worthy of remark, with the exception perhaps of the large brewing establish¬ 
ment which teiminates the buildings on the west, and which was taken down about 
the period when Hope Street began to be formed. Beyond this spot the road to 
Anderston was formerly bordered by a row of large elm trees, the adjoining grounds 
on the north being occupied as market gardens.! 


THE BROOMIELAW IN 1802. 


F ROM the era to which our former view of the Broomielaw may be referred, 
down to the commencement of the present century, the improvements effected 
on the harbour itself were not of an important nature, although much had been 
attempted, by deepening the bed and confining the flow of the river, to improve 
the means of access to its quays. Nevertheless, the period of forty years had not 
elapsed, without producing many changes in the appearance of the locality, such 
as those caused by the construction of the handsome bridge, with its rusticated 
arches and chequered parapet—completed in 1773 the formation of Jamaica 
Street, and the erection, on a part of the Windmill Croft, of the row of dwelling- 
houses known as Clyde Buildings. The quay had besides been lengthened in 1792, 
to the extent of from three to four hundred feet,§ and a few additional houses had 
been erected in its vicinity; still, it must be evident, that no very great advance 
could at that period have been made in removing the many obstructions which im¬ 
peded the navigation of the stream, when we know that, even in the year 1806 it 
was regarded as an important event, that a schooner of 150 tons burthen was 
enabled to reach the Broomielaw.|| 

Many of our readers may have a perfect recollection of the scene depicted in the 

* Vide Cleland’s Enumeration, fyc. 1832, p. 177* 

f We must here acknowledge our obligations to Mr. John Hart, not only for the originals of these views, but for much 
curious information with regard to the city in former times. 

This bridge was taken down in 1832. $ Cleland’s Annals, I. 292. || Ibid. ibid. 

2 D 





110 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


plate, where the line of the harbour is seen extending only about as far down as 
Oswald Street, with the sloping bank below, on which it was usual for small boats 
to be hauled up. A greater number still must be able to recall the time when, 
on the south side, for some way downwards from the bridge, all was a green meadow 
as far as the present centre of the stream—this having been the case indeed, till 
within the last twenty-two years. It is unnecessary to point to the contrast between 
the scene represented in the picture and that to be observed in the same locality at 
the present day; this will suggest itself to every one who may happen to bestow a 
glance upon the drawing before us. We have all witnessed what the last twenty years 
have effected there;—Who will undertake to foretell the changes of the next ? 


RUINS OF THE THEATRE ROYAL, QUEEN STREET, &c. 

I T was a dull wintry day, the 10th of January 1829. Comparatively few passengers 
were to be seen in Queen Street or its vicinity; and their breakfast hour being 
past, the workmen had returned to the business of dismantling what had been the 
Royal Bank, preparatory to its conversion into the front part of the present Ex¬ 
change, when the attention of a few individuals was suddenly attracted to what 
seemed a light misty vapour ascending from the lofty roof of the Theatre Royal. By 
rapid degrees this assumed the unmistakeable appearance of smoke—becoming each 
successive minute more dense and black, until first one lurid jet of fire, and then 
another flickered amid the darkness, to be almost instantly succeeded by one gene¬ 
ral outburst of flame. It soon became pretty evident indeed, that this Temple of 
the “ Twin Muses” was threatened by the most serious of all theatrical calamities; 
and with winged speed did the intelligence spread over the city, as the fire-engines 
were dragged along in rapid succession to the spot—each attended by its crowd of 
followers, hastening with breathless speed to swell the general mass, assembled at 
every point from which a view of the burning edifice could be obtained— 

“ -the mighty roast, the mighty stew to see, 

As if the whole were but to them, a Brentford jubilee.” 

The Fire Brigade put forth, of course, on this occasion its mightiest strength; 
the measured strokes of the engine-men were heard without cessation; the water 
carts were hurried from place to place, with even a more than usual disregard of life 
and limb ; the snake-like hose hissed in fifty different quarters, as they twisted along 




































TWINS OF THE THEATRE ROYAL, QUEEN STREET, 
DESTROYED BYFIKE ON THE lO 18 JANHARX1829 



'CHARLIE’S stables,’south side of trdngate.east of stockwell street, 

TAKEN DOWN- IN' 1838 


Allaji&Ferguson. Kill. 



























* 





















































OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


Ill 


the streets, and scarlet-collared policemen looked on in unprecedented numbers— 
but, alas ! the devouring element, as the newspapers have it, had resolved upon en¬ 
joying a satisfactory feast, and was not to be thwarted by the mightiest resistance 
that could be offered, so that in the course of a few hours this spacious structure 
was converted into the somewhat picturesque ruin which meets the eye in the drawing 
before us. 

There may be many among the play-goers of former times who yet retain a sort 
of friendly remembrance of the Theatre in Queen Street, coupled with many a plea¬ 
sant retrospect of evenings spent within its walls, when the impassioned grandeur of 
Siddons, the fire of Kean, the grace of Stephens or of Helen Tree, the humour of 
Mathews, and the drollery of Boddie (a name perhaps well nigh forgotten), had each 
in turn contributed to “ charm the passing hour.” And if it so be that any of our 
readers should happen to recall to mind the occasional visit paid to it in boyish days— 
when every thought and feeling were wrapt in the enjoyment of the moment, and 
when all within the Rubicon of the ticket lobby seemed couleur de rose —their recollec¬ 
tions of the long-demolished edifice and its once dazzling attractions may even still 
perhaps assume a tinge of passing light, caught from the all-sunny experiences of 
times gone by. Who among such but must well remember the dimly-lighted entrance, 
passed with f< expectation high,” the semicircular staircase, ascended with buoyant 
steps to reach the favoured regions of the boxes, or that cavernous sort of approach 
pursued with no less glee, which led to the more humble benches of the pit. And as to 
the interior itself, what pen can ever describe the engrossing delight of the moment, 
when the wished-for seat was attained, and, amid the full burst of the orchestra, the 
eye had leisure to wander over the exciting scene of a house—crowded from the gal¬ 
lery immediately under the painted region of clouds and cupids, to the brilliant circle 
which approached the stage on either side, close to that line of shaded lights whose 
reflected brilliance fell upon the gorgeous drapery of the curtain that was, in its 
ascent, to throw open the gates, as it were, of fairyland. 

To all who may happen to bestow a thought upon reminiscences such as these, 
there will perhaps some particular occasions start to mind, when the rising of that 
mass of crimson and gold became the precursor of more than ordinary enjoyment, and 
when the interest in all that it unveiled was carried to a more than common height- 
step by step, it may be said, with every successive occasion which beheld the progress 
of the stage romance checked by the fall of that fine drop-scene the panorama of 
the Clyde, with its glorious expanse of scenery, as visible from Dalnottci ilill, the 
fine umbrageous foreground, the wide expanse of the river, the familiar lock of 
Dumbarton, and the distant mountains of Argyll. To one, it may be perchance in 
connection with the dark story of the Moor or with that of the " murdered Duncan” 
that the mind awakes most vividly to a recollection of the old Theatre and its once 


112 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


engrossing attractions. To another, the gorgeous spectacle of “ Alladin ” or that of 
the “Forty Thieves,' ’ may supply the light which still radiates brightest in the 
distant vista of play-going experience. Some will bethink them of the unmeasured 
enjoyment with which they witnessed for the first time the oddities of that prince of 
tutors. Dr. O’Toole, the humours of the portly FalstafF, or the merry antics of the 
mercurial Harlequin. Others will have all-prominent in view, the glorious feats of the 
circle—the dazzling horsemanship of Ducrow. Every one, in short, not yet superior to 
the occasional “ weakness” of bestowing a thought upon the trivialities of the past, 
will possibly find, in a glance at these well-remembered ruins, not a little to recall— 

“ Thoughts of the younger life and happier day.” 

The drama, as is well known, has never been cherished in Glasgow with any 
peculiar care. About the beginning of the present century, however, a number of 
influential parties began to think that in this respect there was a revolution in pro¬ 
gress, and believing that the taste for theatrical amusements was rapidly on the 
increase among the citizens, they came to the resolution of doing all that lay in their 
power to foster its development, and to meet the demands which it was likely to occa¬ 
sion, by providing such superior accommodation, both for actor and audience, as 
would at once enable this spirited city to take a prominent place among those which 
held forth the wreath of patronage to the eye of histrionic fame. In 1802 a joint- 
stock subscription was accordingly entered into for the purpose, and in 1805 the 
house in Queen Street was completed at an expense of £18,500." 

Of this building the city had, certainly, great reason to be proud. In architec¬ 
tural appearance, in size, in the general arrangements of the interior, and in the 
quality of its scenery and decorations, it had not a rival beyond the bounds of the 
metropolis. But alas ! it too soon became apparent that the proprietors had calculated 
over-blindly upon the support of the public ; and it was ere long sufficiently evident 
that neither the inducements of a splendid house, nor the presence of superior talent 
on its stage, could do aught to convert the citizens of Glasgow into a play-going 
people. From £1200 a-year, the rental was reduced by rapid steps to a third of that 
sum, and yet scarcely a single lessee appears to have succeeded in conducting the 
management without suffering a loss. In 1814 it was sold for £5000, to liquidate a 
debt contracted on the security of the building ; and thus the handsome Theatre passed 
from the possession of the original proprietors—leaving them to regard it in the light 
of a stately cenotaph reared over the entombed ashes of their twenty-five pound 
shares. 

After its destruction in 1829, the ruins of the edifice remained standing for a 
considerable period as we see them in the plate, and were at length taken down to 

* The previous Theatre was in Dunlop Street, and forms part of the building still existing there. 



Fac Simile' of a .Map which appeared m the Glasgow Magazine of 1783. 





* «<* 


VV '>VH.).| 


rvK’Tt; 





Allui l fVj^uscm i.tii 































































































































































OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


113 


be replaced by the dull-looking walls of the building which now occupies their site, 
immediately adjoining to what forms the north-east corner of Exchange Square. 

To the left of the view is seen what was once the most elegant private residence 
in the city; and for an equal to which we shall in vain look at the present day. It 
was built about the year 1777, by Mr. Cunningham,”' a Virginia merchant who, at 
the commencement ol the American War, acquired a large fortune by a successful 
speculation in tobacco. It subsequently, as we need scarcely repeat, was occupied 
as the Royal Bank, and now partially exists in the front portion of the Exchange— 
every vestige of its external walls, however, being concealed by the masonry of the 
more recent structure. At the period when our view was taken the fine double 
staiicase had been already removed, and the building was in other respects somewhat 
dismantled. 


Of Charlie s Stables all that we can say is, that the buildings which bore the 
name were removed some eight or ten years ago from the south side of the Trongate, 
nearly opposite to Hutcheson Street; and that they are stated to have acquired this 
designation from the circumstance of the horses belonging to the Young Chevalier 
having been stabled in the out-houses attached to them, during the time he resided 
in the mansion of Mr. Campbell of Shawfield, situated at the lower end of the present 
Glassford Street. 


THE PLAN OF GLASGOW. 

T HE first general Plan of the City ever published was that, we believe, engraved 
in 1778, from a survey made by Mr. John M f Arthur, f The fac-simile which 
accompanies the present volume is taken from a second specimen of topography, 


* It is laid down in M'Arthur’s Map of 1778, and is said to Lave cost its proprietor £10,000. 

f About ten years prior to this, a part of the city, between the College and the Old Bridge, had been surveyed, in con¬ 
sequence of a law-plea in which the magistrates were involved. This survey was prepared, we believe, for private distribution, 
in 1768 or 1769. The following is the title it bears:—“A plan of Part of ye City of Glasgow, and course of the Burn 
Molendinar, leading to the Saw Mill erected by William Fleming, wright in Glasgow, in 1750 and 1751, and Set agoeing in 
1752, Demolished by the Magistrates of Glasgow on the 23 June 1764, for which he then Commenced a process against the said 
Magistrates before the Court of Session, and in Consequence of a final Judgement given on the 9 July 1768, the Magistrates 
paid the pursuer on the 18 Novr following £610 Is. 4 d. Sterling, and were also Obliged to relieve him of the expense of extract¬ 
ing the decreet.” The saw-mill in question was erected across the Molendinar Burn, about one hundred yards above its junc¬ 
tion with the Clyde. 







114 


VIEWS AND NOTICES 


issued some five years later, upon a diminished scale ; but as there appears, on com¬ 
parison, to be very little difference between the two originals, the one here annexed 
may be almost regarded as a copy of Arthur’s plan. 

An old map, like an old almanack, is seldom thought worthy of any particular 
notice; still, there is something in this record of the former extent and bearings of 
the city which, for the present, may entitle it perhaps to be looked upon as forming 
an exception to the rule. It does not indeed carry us back to a very remote period of 
our civic existence ; but it possesses, nevertheless, a considerable degree of interest— 
enabling us, as it does, to judge at a glance of the great activities which have been 
at work during the last seventy years in promoting the extension of the city, and in 
conveying the grasp of this second Tyre over hill and plain to the southward and 
the west. 

A cursory inspection of this little plan will be sufficient to afford an idea of what 
was the extent of the city at the close of the American War—when the days of a 
former prosperity appeared to have passed away, and when, as yet, the star of a new 
hope had scarcely begun to emerge from that heavy cloud which had settled over the 
lost el-dorado of the Virginia plantations. 

At the western extremity of the town is the suburb of Grahamston and the 
straggling wood-yards and workshops about the Broomielaw; the upper part of Jamaica 
Street—begun to be formed about the year 1760—appears in the map, flanked by 
the same buildings as at present; nearer the Bridge, however, there is much vacant 
ground to be seen, a part of which then belonged to the community. In St. Enoch 
Square the former church and present spire had been raised, but as yet none of the 
now existing houses occupied the sites, awaiting them there, upon a piece of waste 
ground which likewise appertained to the public—probably as former church property 
attached to the ancient chapel of St. Tenew. Several buildings appear encroaching 
upon the narrowed limits of the Dovecote Green, and the line of West Clyde Street 
is to be seen laid down along it—confining all that was to remain of the old “ Virida- 
rium " into a narrow strip of verdure between that new thoroughfare and the river. 
Between Jamaica and Stockwell Streets, the only passage parallel to them is St. 
Enoch’s Wynd—the “ Vennelam” of ancient documents—which even in 1783 had 
been densely built upon; below it is a very extensive rope work; and to the north¬ 
east of that long range of building there appears a considerable open space, destined 
some years later to be occupied by the houses of Maxwell and Dunlop Streets. 

On the opposite side of the main artery of the city is seen Buchanan Street, 
then recently laid off, and with only one solitary edifice standing upon its line. 
This was a mansion with detached wings, belonging to a gentleman of the name of 
Johnstone; in front of it runs St. Enoch’s burn, and did not the ornamental title 
of the plan interfere, we might have observed in its place the villa of Enoch 


OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


115 


Bank, which formerly stood, with its garden enclosures, near the spot now occupied 
b) St. Mary s Chapel. Queen Street appears lined, especially on the west side, 
with several, of what might sixty years ago have been termed, suburban villas, the 
principal ot which was the elegant residence of Mr. Cunningham, referred to in our 
notice of the old Theatre Royal. The once handsome buildings of Miller Street, 
with their garden plots behind, were then in all the freshness of existence; and 
those ot Virginia Street—in general of a more unpretending appearance—were 
terminated on the north by a large open space, in front of the capacious edifice 
of Mr. Speirs of Flderslie. The only buildings of any consequence to be observed 
in Ingram Street, at the date ot the plan, were the Gaelic Chapel, near its western 
extremity, and the large quadrangular tape manufactory, situated at the corner of 
what is now John Street, a part of which still exists immediately adjoining to 
Hutchesons’ Hospital. 

Opposite to this factory are the garden grounds now occupied by Wilson Street, 
<fcc., and behind it lies what formed at one period a part of the Pavilion Croft. In 
1778 this was cultivated chiefly, we believe, by market gardeners, and such was still 
the case perhaps in 1783, although it had by that time been fixed upon as the site 
of several new streets. From the Ramshorn Church to the Rottenrow, scarcely a 
single building is to be observed; the long line of George Street, with its numerous 
branches, had not, at the date referred to, more than the partial shadow of an 
existence. 

The older parts of the city remain at the present day much as they were, and 
afford nothing worthy of particular remark. Turning our attention however, to the 
southward of the Gallowgate, it will be observed that much vacant space exists in 
that locality.—There the oldest portion of Charlotte Street meets the eye, wearing the 
appearance of a little cluster of isolated villas, reposing upon the verdant back-ground 
of the trees which skirted the Gallowgate Green. St. Andrew’s Church stands alone, 
a church “ in the fields”—that handsome square as yet unformed which was in after 
years to extend around it, and to maintain for so brief a season the fashionable char¬ 
acter with which it was at first endowed. We have next the principal Green, with 
all its natural irregularities of surface, and possessed of scarcely one convenient 
means of approach—the Camlachie burn bounding it upon one side, the shambles 
upon another, and Hr. Cleland’s improvements still slumbering in the lap of time. 
The little village of Gorbals may likewise be taken notice of, with its single street or 
two, and surrounding fields:—but it is unnecessary to dwell upon such details, when 
the map itself is before us—capable, we may say, of repeating its own sufficiently 
comprehensive tale, and of closing, with due effect, the present series of the Views 
of Glasgow in Former Times. 


116 


VIEWS AND NOTICES OF GLASGOW IN FORMER TIMES. 


“THE MORNING WALK.’ 


HE reader lias here, upon what may be termed a supplemental sheet, the copy 



~L of an etching executed in 1793 by, it is said, a son of John Kay, the humorous 
designer of the “ Edinburgh Portraits.” The individuals represented were all well 
known in Glasgow half a century ago, and the scene of this matinly stroll may be 
laid at not many miles distance from the statue of King William. The likenesses 
are, we have been informed, exceedingly good; it will, however, be evident at a glance, 
that the spirit of caricature has been busily at work to magnify every peculiarity of 
personal appearance, and to travestie the tout ensemble of the promenaders. 

To proceed from the left—the first is Mr. David Dale, a gentleman of a highly 
benevolent and energetic mind, to whose enterprise the manufactures of the West of 
Scotland are considerably indebted, and whose memory is still cherished among 
many of our citizens with the deepest respect. Mr. Dale was the first to introduce 
the art of cotton spinning into this part of the island, which he effected by the estab¬ 
lishment in 1785 of the well-known mills in the vicinitv of Lanark; and was for 
many years one of the magistrates of Glasgow. He died in 1806. 

The second is Mr. John Wallace, a West India merchant of respectable stand¬ 
ing and considerable wealth. The third is Mr. Robert Dregiiorn, already referred 
to at page 57- With regard to the tall gentleman in the military dress, we are rather 
at fault, and have not been able to meet with any among the “ seniors of the city” who 
could decide the question of his name and lineage. The fifth and last is Mr. Lau¬ 
rence, (or, as he was usually styled, Lowrie) Coulter, the son of that Provost 
Coulter who in the year 1736 laid the foundation stone of the present Town Hall. 
This individual enjoyed through life the fruits of his father’s successful industry; he 
possessed an estate near Hamilton, at one time called “ Whistleberry,” afterwards 
“ the Grove;” and was somewhat noted for considerable eccentricity of character. 


Printed by William Rankin, 62 Argyll Street, Glasgow. 










































* 




* 





















• 



















































the Moifi¥G Walk 





































f 


N?l. 



J 


moif THE OLD MKTtGHANTK’BALL. 


N°2 



PROM OJ.D MERCHANTS’ HAI.I,. 











































































































































































. *4 § 




















A'V 

* ■A >$*, ° 1 

* <L V & • 




1 * A V ^ : 

ST 4 AV V\ • 1 

A V vD, 'o.i* A 

A <, 0 ■ • 4 ^ 

A *‘vAyA'C-'' ^ 



<* *'.. * ‘ A 


V ... V* ' •*' A" 


o V 


“ A 'Cin o %ywvo? * aV**. •* >iiMll^ ° A '^r> ° 1 

* A >»^v^CAr * A* *^> • §^S|§|\i * A >*, ° 

> A & • <S < ^' r * ^ 4* 

^> '•. ‘ * /v <V *^/V» • G^ ^ 

C° *Vv7^. ^ /T V A *~ /7 ^’ ' 

>>* t -& o jpTssM " 'r> _4 





. >. 0 -«g&WS; ^ °*. 

% •*.'.'•• a°° \ A V'^ v.° 0 V^’'’ ^ '°-i. *° 

vVAk‘< V V ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ *V ^ 

* ^ -are* ^ a '%> *^llifsy/ 4 $ A/, ^ 

- • ~ 4 A ♦'TvT* G* \p ’'o..‘ A ^ */7 vT s .G* '**‘ 4 A <u 

O A c 0 8 ° ♦ <£ fiv » ' * - ’^q A o ° " 8 ■» <P * /\» «>■'•« <0 » & o 0 8 8 ♦ 

° A *r* A ° A /<^!rv %> A SjBtBfe?* A /^Xirv- " 

A 10 ^ a* 

^ *.,>•' A" <^ ^" < '••< 0, ^ 0 ' ^ -..I*' ^ * 8 - 8 ° ^ 0 " 

- :MMr. AA .•«&; •' 




“ ^ 8 
vA u 




A V 

>* A' ^ °. I 

.G^ ^> '‘>.* 4 A 

^ f 0^ t » A! ♦ , ^O A ,0°" 8 #. 

• , '-fu. 0 < ‘V»P^ ^.V > 





• ^ V 

;* A b ^ °. 

<*. *'TT«* ,G^ ^ '••»* A 

r o^ t • A/«, *o A # cjv % ^ 

* Ta ^ ^ ? /p/J/fch » A * AxvvUf^.''' t. . 


,5 °*. : 


4<- 

D . 0 ° ,0" %, * .', 4 * ' A| 

jS> *1* 8 - > 4> 

tsSw^L.* Ta a"®’ 

; ISM* ^ ,A » 

» ^ A • ^«_e//xa , 

- 4 A V • te^oSrri 4 aS ^ 

4 v ^ *1 • 





° • A 


°o 


^A 0 ^ 





'l c> 

n » «<4 *' 


V^*/' ^•^•'”o 

ve A' »;*“- ^ v % ^ a 


A V 

;* A s ^ °. 





.* # ^ ’. 


° • * ’ A <> 
A 8 0 " ° * ** 

v« « 

■^o A °^ 


4 0 * 



o }P Vj 
' ^ ^ * 

q, '*.V» 9 ,A° ^ 

•. *> 




“ ^ ^ V * 

O 4. . r\ J * ^CC*/ M> I n 

* ’ * A v s .., * • * 0 ’ a 0 ,. o ^ ‘* A 

^ A ' *VSjgV. ^ ^ ^ A * 

vA : *¥ '§mry/A \ vA •; 


^ *" ’ * «A ^ »- u 

Ak‘i'. ^ « v ^ A° A’* 

%A {Mm\ \ 

* A <> - ♦ A *>v . * A v o vJrvk * A *o, • * A ❖>■ - 

T'.*' ,G^ o ' 4 -‘ 4 A <V ,G^ ^ '“•*’* A ,G^ o 

^ . 0 ^ t • 1 "•* ^o a % ••“•-• 0 ^ t * 1 ** 4 ^o a % *•"*'» ^ a • i,# . ^o 


» 0 ^ v 

* ^.a" .^m c o ^a v : 







* o . 

♦- *♦ • < ^*'- V./ :'Mftk. U J :'Mk\ \/ *' 





0 A ^ »-, 

* A u c?*. 0 1 

\ CL V • 


1 ’ X» « 





A 6 o«.. "*V 

j » • j^T^vv *P 

A * ^SNY,"' •>'* 

4^ 0 * 'fV A 



Aq* 


\0 7", 

0 ^ ‘‘"Wf^ A' ° 0 ^T^C-' ft o' ^ 

^ •' 1 A °^> a° »' ’ a - 4 . 

. ’ • «> v v »iA + o. _0 V ,*•«,"> V % »*••% 

♦■ « 'p^ A *^ a. *r 



<v 

A o 0 “ 0 . ^ 

♦ O • cC^\. w* » 

<N 4 
,y O °- 



e» n o 





«* ' r r. A rv f *■ 

• •- 


■ * v -%. : 
* ** ^ • 



C. vP 

<^~ 'f'^ 1 

* ^, >^. >> 1 

*'TA'' .0^ *'». * 4 A 

tp c <y °o ^ 




«“ v r A aT> ► 
• •- 


\0 f * v 

A \*^v 

*0 V »’••* > V 

^ ^ ♦ JV ✓*. < 


• A V -%. ' 

• 4* ** • 


* A ^ - ■> 

__, -4 n V r^> * ^ ’ 4 

<U A '°* 4 ' .V s 

0 ^ K » k *_• * o, A o°" 0 * q 



^ 4^ ♦ 


•fr^A o 


■tr'^ 


o' 


s> * A ' J <? > 

_ 4 -a. v ^ 

A. *' .G 


O' 


*s o. 

ii.' ^ 


v *°-° A a + A ^ 4 '"’* A 'U ‘’•• 0 ’ A 

>*&&• %, A .>vk-. \ A « v -*^'. A 4& ^ *« v %„ A. 




'.w. V 
* c ' 


^ ^ 'o. »* A 

0 . <f> /xV iii cs> 

% V c° °o .** 

^ 6^ :£mbt* v* 


V V *. 


* 40 • 

if > A.’ «<k «« •t' IKRfc^s. w o AW YJ - V- 

* * tsT _ 

^ Oj. "*...•* .0° ^ 

v ^ a° Ai*°'. ^ 


I 4 • 




,° J, 0 ^ 


4 * 





<N * 
^O ^ ° 





4 o> 

* «• <?r-s//IV >:-* <L ^ *" 

<£> * J '<■''" ** ^ o 

A,'' $>. • » ■» ’ <?> O. 

cv .<y ,* • o, * 

* r ^ ^ ^A- * 

^ *? %> \lKjp ** &* ^ ^ v *V ,^V 

, % '° • ‘ “ a* VV^' .0* V*-f.T** a' ^ \ °‘,f A 

V>* G -AvSS^A Jfr ^ \A A s //>AO * <N H ^OoAYn^L * *7 V * J^vTa/P, * '-' «1 ^ « 

, V’-* 4 '/ \'l?/ V^S??*/ \ 'W*'\A ' 1 

rO O, At o°“ a 4 ft* .*••• **o A V - ^ -*° 

- A- G ^ «r* •j^ 55 w , » ^ C° °o A 

^ A •£, « 

° > . A*rfjlVj . •** 0 

° \0 vY " * .4 ©a. 

M£^.' ~ ^ ‘/^sWv A ** “-\v(l\ N ^"'>“ *' '^,. .«? 

v K o r/^ <p- l, " L % *a ‘ CV «> ^ '-rs/i, <St 

*" ° a 0 • - ’ * v ^ * «>.«. 0 * ( 

* <A «0 V * ito * ^ v 1 ,»'•/ c> r\* 

. rm-.v , V a* ,VVa. ^ A ,- ’ • 

•Iral- :|PA: W », 

2/Wv>* a v- <. 'AyA* ^"V 

^ A* * °-a 

'o. »• A 


A ^ 




41 » o jt> • j«<\ ^ ^ w t a*' c'* '-r>. n • 1 

• «\ « <5SX\\V'^. * -jr V-i ♦ atvT/yb'j * O ji> • "P * /»- 

^ ‘ ^ v ^ > o' ^ ^ 

j ) ’% A v \ ■ ^ y 

0 A 0 '?s •'••* 4, ‘-^ i A 0 ' ^ **. 1 * <y O . %; 

«0 «• * * °- V A .»• • , cv r>^ f • o „ v* s ,, ^ 

* \/ :Mk- \ 


_ •: :»m°. w rmmm\ **<> 

y '*+. ‘W&y ./ \ ^ 

- > 4 f 0+'V J V .-.. V"'^o+ 6 .-. %"•• V ... 
fc \1 ° :H^. A 0 / „•;«•- %- c *'^-- J ' • - 


a v< V : 1ISK" 6 v^M; 

A ^ •S£>MxA * A V, uVJrVk * 

\ <, Wtf-'jf %,'■?.•■' 

.‘J^*- *+ f 0*.-‘V.. V ,*4 



■*b K 1 • 

, ....V^ 4 ‘ v s<...,V*/.. \:"-V.. V'»V \ * 

J: °WmW: a v ^ -PB3P?° ^ 

^ °.Vw* v> vSSiSSv a, . 

...» ,o^ V '••*- a ^TT* 

G ■» o .A - »VJ . - 


















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































